Heart's Beacon
by rockflyer
Summary: This story takes place right after Starcrossed. HGGL GL is determined to make things right with HG. But how? He has to find her first... Last Chapter, Finally Posted!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing other than the idea of the story.

This story takes place right after "Starcrossed". HG-GL GL is determined to make things right with HG. But how? He has to find her first...

Chapter 1:

The air was cool and serene as she flew westward within the night sky. She'd been flying non-stop since she left him standing on the edge of the cliff of Wayne Manor several hours ago. She told him that she loved him, and that she never lied to him about that. But, he didn't respond and then, she knew she had to go.

"I hurt him…" she thought to herself. "What did I expect? For him to forget what I'd done?! That all is forgiven? To tell me that he loved me, too?"

"John…" she sighed.

Shayera Hol didn't know where she was going, she just knew that she couldn't get away from the pain she had caused to John Stewart and the rest of the members of the Justice League.

* * *

John Stewart felt like he'd been blindsided. He couldn't understand how he allowed something like this to happen. He was a **Green Lantern**, for Christ's sake. He looked down at his right hand. His power ring was destroyed when he fought Hro Talek, to prevent the Thanagarians from destroying his planet. She was there, too. He would've died if it weren't for her. He saw her limp form hit the ground when she fought Talek after she pleaded with him to spare the Earth and its people. But Talek was angry. And John used Talek's anger to defeat him. They had stopped the Thanagarian's plot together.

"How many times had she been there for me…?" he thought.

More times than he could count. When she pulled him from that plane that went down in the ocean during the battle with Vandal Savage, or when she saved his life when he was caught in the explosion from one of the bombs that the Joker had planted all over Las Vegas. That's when he realized that he had to tell her how he felt, and she acknowledged her feelings for him when he did.

"How could I just let her fly off like that?!!" he said softly. "Without telling her…that I'm still…"

He didn't finish the thought. He realized he didn't care about what had happened before. He was in the military; he knew the position she was in as an agent for her people. However that knowledge didn't make it any easier. What made it unbearable for him was finding out that she was promised to Talek and she never told him.

He'd walked back dejectedly towards Wayne Manor without thinking. When he reached the mansion, J'onn J'onzz greeted him at its well-lit entrance.

"Are you alright, John?"

"As well as can be expected." John answered. "Where are the others?"

"Superman headed back to Metropolis, and Flash to Central City. Diana and I will be staying here at the mansion. Batman said that you're welcome to stay here as well." The martian replied.

"No thanks. I think I'll go home. I need to clear my head," John replied.

"That's understandable. I believe that we are going to reconvene here in a few days. Until then, it would be best that you get some rest, my friend."

"Sure thing. Tell everyone that I'll see them in a couple of days." John waved as he headed for the open road.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Shayera Hol landed in a deep wooded forest somewhere near the border of Canada. She'd flown most of the night and was experiencing fatigue from the long flight. She didn't know where she was exactly, and she didn't care. All that mattered was that she was in an isolated area. In her opinion she didn't deserve to be near anyone. Isolation was her only companion now.

She spotted an old wooden cabin with her keen eyesight just before she landed, and decided to bed down for the day. Her plan was simple: sleep by day and move by night.

The global authorities were probably on the lookout for her, since everyone knew that Shayera Hol was responsible for the Thanagarian occupation. Without her surveillance reports on the world's defenses as well as the weaknesses of the Justice League, the Thanagarian's would've had a tougher time taking over the Earth.

Shayera eyed the insides of the cabin thoroughly and found that it hadn't been in use for some time. She decide that she can stay here for a while as long as there were no prying eyes to disturb her stay.

She needed time to figure out what to do next.

"I need to stay focused..." she thought. Survival training came back to mind as she looked for anything that she could use to make the cabin more livable. All she had was the clothes on her back. Everything she ever had was in the Watchtower, and it was now destroyed.

A couple of hours later, she had a small fire going in the fireplace and was in the process of determining how to get something she felt she really needed: food.

Shayera kept her mind on what she was doing; she wouldn't allow herself to drift. Because if she did, she would think about him, and thinking about John was what she didn't want right now.

Shayera decided to do a perimeter check of the area one more time. She hovered a few yards above the tree line, and looked in every direction. There was nothing around for miles, it seemed that she had the entire valley all to herself. She made a couple of make shift spears from some thick tree branches that she found, went to the nearby creek and skillfully caught a couple of trout, but barely ate the roasted fish that she skewered over the open fire.

She was exhausted and she closed her eyes.

The nightmare greeted her with open arms. She saw John's shocked face when finding out that she was promised to Hro Talek. Superman's words striking her in the face: **"TRAITOR!"**The angry face of Wonder Woman as she freed her from the prison that Hro Talek had thrown her in. The word **"TRAITOR"** kept revealing it's ugly head, when she prevented Hro Talek from delivering a final deathblow to the unconscious John Stewart. She saw John on the floor, his hand mangled and the Green Lantern power ring shattered.She fought Hro Talek with all of her strength determined not to allow anyone else to get hurt from her actions. She fought valiantly, but was knocked unconscious by the energy discharge from Talek's power axe.

She saw the look on John's face, smiling briefly as she helped him shut down the force field that protected the device that would have caused the destruction of the Earth.Her worst nightmare was John angrily saying that he wanted nothing else to do with her, and that he wanted her to get out of his life forever. Over and over she kept hearing **"TRAITOR!!" "YOU BETRAYED US!!" "I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE!!"**

She awoke with a start.

"I don't know if I can do this!" she cried, unable to get her bearings. For the first time, she realized that she was truly alone.

* * *

It was 4:30 in the morning, when John finally reached his apartment. He was tired, but he knew that sleep wouldn't come easy. The room was dark and had a stale smell to it. It had been awhile since he'd been home.

"Need to open some windows, and let some air in here..." he thought.

He started toward one of the windows across the room when he noticed that it had already been opened.

"You look tired, John Stewart," the voice said. The lamp on the end table came to life with brightness.

"Hello, Kat. What brings you here?"

Katma Tui noticed that John's right arm and hand was in a sling and that the bags under his eyes didn't help with his physical condition.

"The Guardians... they lost the signal from your ring and sent me to investigate. What happened to you? You look like hell," she surmised.

"Been through a couple things since I last saw you."

"Just start from the beginning," Katma said calmly.

John described all the events that occurred during the Thanagarian occupation. He explained how he understood Hawkgirl's position for being an agent for her people, how he couldn't vote when the others were determining Hawkgirl's membership within the league, how he felt numb to her as she resigned from the League's charter, and how he couldn't respond to her before she flew away.

"Was it just the **invasion** that's got you down or is it something else?" Katma asked.

"What do you mean? I told you everything..." John lied.

"You didn't mention that you are in love with her, John Stewart," Katma replied.

"Well... I'm working on that..."

"Working on your pride, you mean. I already knew you loved her since Kalinor. When she showed up, your whole attitude changed. She was the one that helped you get your mental abilities back. **That's** how you were able to defeat Despero!" she exclaimed.

"What are you talking about...?" John asked, with a puzzled look.

"You said that you were missing an important piece of yourself, when you were unable to use your ring...and when Despero attacked Hawkgirl that's when you got your mental block out of the way. You've got deep feelings for her, John Stewart. Don't deny it," she challenged.

"You've got this all figured out, don't you," John retorted.

"Well think about it, how else could your ring have been destroyed? The power of the ring..." Katma theorized.

John interrupted, "...resides in the wielder's mind not the ring. So you're saying the reason my ring was destroyed was because I ..."

"... doubted yourself regarding your feelings towards Hawkgirl, which affected your mind when you used your ring," Katma finished.

"Makes sense. Didn't think of it that way," John agreed with her theory.

"So, John Stewart. What are you going to do about it?"

"Do about what?"

Katma gave him a stern look. "Does Hawkgirl love you?"

"Yeah... she said that she never lied to me about loving me..." he replied.

"Then what's your problem? You said earlier that you understood about her doing the job she was sent here to do. Can you really say that that's what stopping you from going after her?"

John had a look of dismay on his face. "She made the choice to leave, I didn't ask her to."

"You didn't ask her to stay either," Katma pointed out.

"John Stewart, if you truly love this woman, then you should tell her. Let her know, because right now... all she knows is loneliness and heartache. She needs you now more than ever."

"You're right...but I don't even know where she is..."

"Perhaps this will help..." Katma reached into her tunic and dropped the power ring into his hand. "...the Guardians told me that this ring is directly from the Lantern source itself."

"But how...?"

"They realized that your ring was somehow destroyed and sent this for you." Katma replied.

John took the ring of power and carefully slipped it onto the middle finger on his broken right hand. His body began to shimmer to its bright green hue as he felt the power surging throughout his body, into his hand, repairing the damage that was done by the energy axe of Hro Talek.

He removed his arm from the sling and flexed his hand realizing that there was no pain there anymore. The only pain he felt now was in his heart. He knew what he had to do. He had to find her.

"Thanks Kat... I have to go." John said as he headed for the open window.

"I know. Good luck, John Stewart," she whispered softly, as he streaked southward on the early morning horizon.

Katma knew that this had been her one opportunity to somehow re-establish the relationship that they had once shared so long ago. However, she realized that it would never happen, because she had sensed the love that John Stewart has for Hawkgirl. She knew it from when she last talked to him on the planet Kalinor.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Green Lantern had devised a plan by the time he reached Gotham City. It was late midmorning, and time was of the essence. The talk with Katma Tui had reminded him, **_"The mind is the weapon not the metal..."_** and it gave him an idea. If it worked, he could begin searching for Shayera without delay. He decided to head back to Wayne Manor to somehow re-trace her position from when he last saw her, but first he had a stop to make.

Alfred answered the door, "Master Stewart. May I help you?"

"Yeah... is he in?

"Right this way, sir. Its good to see that your injuries have healed," Alfred noted.

"Thanks, Alfred. Appreciate your concern," Green Lantern responded. He was still injured far deeper than his physical wounds ever shown, but hopefully he could find the cure for that soon enough.

Alfred led him to the repaired entrance of the batcave," You have a guest, Master Bruce."

Bruce Wayne was seated at his computer center analyzing technical plans on the massive computer screen. "Lantern..." he said dryly. "Good to see you got your ring back."

He looked at John with a slight smirk on his lips, "...you're going after her, aren't you?"

"Yeah... I need something first. Do you have any medical samples of Hawkgirl?" John asked.

"I might... why?"

"I think I can track her if I can get to the molecular level of her DNA. With it my ring should be able to lead me to any Thanagarians on the planet. I just need something to differentiate her species from humans." Lantern reasoned.

"Clever...didn't know you could do that..." Bruce said as he headed towards the medical station. He reached into the refrigeration unit and pulled out a case that contained vials of blood samples of all the League members.

"Don't know if I can..." Green Lantern said optimistically, "...but I have to try..."

Bruce started to hand Green Lantern the vial, when suddenly it was enveloped in bright green energy and drifted towards John's face. Bruce could see the grim determination etched onto Lantern's face as he concentrated.

**_...the mind is the weapon not the metal..._** John thought with immense intensity.

He focused on her blood, then mentally pushed his mind past the barriers of the vial, then past the blood's surface until the vial phased into several circular projections of green light that displayed the microscopic contents of Hawkgirl's blood sample. Each time the projections phased it broke down the proteins and enzymes, layer after layer, until it finally got to her DNA strand.

"Impressive." Bruce remarked at his friend's accomplishment.

John imprinted the projection into his mind and set the vial back into the case with the others. "Thanks. Bruce, if this works, I will have you to thank."

"Don't mention it. Tell me something, "Bruce said, as he placed the case back into the refrigeration unit.

"What?"

"What if she doesn't want to come back?"

"Like you once told me... I'll have to deal with it." John said, recognizing that possibility. But he had already made up his mind that he refused to let that happen. Not this time. He needed her. He'd have to convince her of that, no matter how long it would take. He would show her that he loved her and he wasn't willing to give her up for anything.

"Thanks, I can see myself out." He smiled at Bruce as he made his way to the stairs.

"Need any help?" Bruce offered.

"Not this time," Green Lantern shook his head. "This... I gotta do on my own..." he said with strength in his voice.

John watched the secret door slide back into place as he crossed the threshold into the mansion's hallway. He made his way to the staircase when he walked upon Alfred.

"Sir, if I may?" Alfred injected. "I'm not one to pry... but, when you find Miss Hol, if you could do me the honor of giving her my best wishes? I feel that she is in great need of a friend right now."

John smiled, "I'll be glad to pass that on to her. She must have made quite an impression with you."

"Indeed, sir. She has a quality within her that few can see from the outside." Alfred commented with great resolve. "She had shown great courage for what she did. She is one that I would gladly call my friend," he smiled as he walked away.

John smiled even more. He was glad that he wasn't the only one that believed that Shayera possessed great qualities. He was proud to be in love with her.

"John..."

Green Lantern turned to see Diana walking up the staircase. "Hi, Diana." She seemed to have calmed down, since the meeting the day before.

"How do you feel?" Diana asked concerned. "Wait a minute..." she said when she noticed that he had his power ring on his hand, and no longer wearing his sling. "John, you can't be serious...," she fumed trying to remain civil. "I can't believe that you're going to look for her..."

John didn't want to lose his temper, and simply looked at her calmly. "Believe it..."

"She's not worth it," Diana said with a hint of contempt.

He looked at Diana with deep sorrow, "It's so easy for you to judge her, isn't it? Don't you think its time for you to stop looking at the world through rose colored glasses?"

"What.." she seemed confused.

"Diana, once you can put yourself in her place and try to understand why she did what she did," he looked at her rigidly, "Then and only then, can you understand what Shayera is like, because to me..."

"...she's everything..." he smiled. "Now...if you'll excuse me..."

Green Lantern walked down the staircase and headed for the door.

Diana watched him briefly not sure what to say next. "John!" she cried out. "You're right...I'll try..." she gave him a look that reached out for his forgiveness. "I'm sorry..."

When he reached the door, John turned to look at her, shimmered into his familiar bright green hue, and gave her a broad smile.

"We'll be back..." he said as he lifted up into the late afternoon sky.

* * *

_"Wake up...they're coming... from the north side of the ridge..." _

Shayera heard something whispering in the back of her mind, through the haziness of her troubled dreams. "...Wha...?" She was still exhausted from her broken slumber; but she knew that something was wrong.

It was dusk, and the temperature of the night air was dropping with every minute. The fire had burned down to very low flames.

"_Watch out...they're coming from the north ridge..." _it whispered to her mind again.

"Who's coming...?" Shayera thought as she shook off what little sleep she had drifted into. "Who said that?" She asked not sure whether she was still dreaming.

"I did..." 

She looked up on the windowsill as a small sparrow landed on it looking directly at her. It's head tilting from side to side.

"There are others like you heading this way... others with wings!!" the little bird chirped anxiously. 

Shayera scrambled to her feet, headed to the window and slowly peered over the sill. Using her keen eyesight revealed a contingent of Thanagarian soldiers slowly making their way through the heavily wooded area. Armed Thanagarians. Which meant only one thing. They were coming for her. How did they find her? Someone must have tagged me with a transmitter. "But how?" she wondered. My wings...?

Shayera raced over to the small fire and extinguished the smoldering embers with dirt. She then stretched her wings, and methodically examined them until she discovered a small square shaped cloth tucked under the lining of her right wing. She detached it slowly from her wing. She then checked the other wing to make sure no other devices were attached.

What was she going to do? She had no weapons, no way to call for help. Her only avenue of escape was to expose herself in the forest. She knew what they were there for. Execution. To execute the one that betrayed them to the humans. Did Talek send them... no... this is someone else. Someone that decided to come back undetected, and wanted her dead...

She went back to the window being careful not to make any noise. They were about five hundred yards from her position now. They haven't seen the cabin yet... or they would've been up here by now, she thought. Must be using some sort of tracking device...

Shayera Hol in a way felt somewhat relieved, at least she would die fighting, she decided. She needed a plan of attack. No... she would need a diversion.

"_You can understand me?"_ Shayera sent her thought to the little bird.

"_Yes."_

"_Would you be willing to help me?"_ she asked hoping that the little bird could really understand her.

The bird shook its head diligently.

"_Can you carry something to the south as fast as you can and drop it as far away from here as possible?"_

"_I can do it."_ The little bird shook its head quickly.

Shayera quickly gave the patch of cloth that contained the tracking transmitter to the sparrow. It took the patch into its beak and turned to fly away.

"_If they start shooting at you, drop this and find a place to hide, ok?" _Shayera thought as she reached for one of the spears she'd made earlier.

The little sparrow chirped its acknowledgement as it darted off the windowsill towards the woods. It headed directly towards the approaching men, then turned sharply to the left up above the tree line and abruptly turned south.

"Target's on the move!" someone barked.

"Where? I don't see anything..." another cried out.

"Hold on..." the voice paused. "South!"

Shayera heard the rustling of flapping wings as the Thanagarians lifted themselves towards the tree line in pursuit of the transmitted signal. The little sparrow had done it. "Thanks... little guy," she laughed inwardly to herself.

She slowly opened the door of the cabin, listened intently to sounds of the night for anything out of the ordinary. She didn't hear or see anything so she darted up over the cabin and headed east over the tree tops. "That was too close," she exhaled in relief.

As she flew swiftly to the east, Shayera realized that now she has become the **hunted**. She actually welcomed this fact, for it gave her something else to think about other than her current troubles.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Green Lantern had to quickly test his ability to use his ring as what he would call a multi-phasic scanner. He'd used his ring in the past to locate other Lantern personnel, in which, the ring did all the work, and it just locked onto the signal of the other rings. This was totally different; this required him to mentally manipulate the ring to find its target by sheer will alone.

He flew up to 5000 feet above Wayne Manor and pointed his ring out in front of himself, and focused on Shayera's DNA image that he previously burned into his mind. Nothing.

He pointed the ring in the direction of the mansion itself. Still nothing.

Then one word popped into his mind. The one word that helped him realize what he had gained whenever he was with Shayera, the one word that made him incomplete without her: **_...clarity..._**

He relaxed, closed his eyes, and again focused on the projection of Shayera's DNA, but this time he pushed his will farther and concentrated.

This time his ring began to ping slightly, and then rapidly. Lantern opened his eyes, and saw that the landscape began to shimmer, then phased into several beach ball size projections just like before. The circular projections began to display the rooftops of Wayne Manor, then floor-by-floor, the inner cavern of the batcave, until the refrigeration unit appeared. The projection phased once again, and there it was: a vial of blood labeled: _**Hawkgirl.**_

John wasn't satisfied until he attempted the exercise three more times, each time incrementing to a higher altitude. He was about 50,000 feet above the earth, looking down, achieving each result with the same success. His mental prowess was improving on each attempt. He was ready.

Green Lantern could see that the sun was beginning to set as he descended back towards Wayne Manor. "It's been almost twenty four hours since she left..." he mused.

He leveled off at about 5,000 feet while he headed northwest, his arm extended towards the earth. His search had begun.

* * *

Shayera was always relaxed whenever she flew. She loved to feel the air currents as it caressed her face, her wings and her body. However, tonight was different. Tonight she was cautious, because she could feel that someone was trailing her. Someone that truly hated her, and wanted her to die for her betrayal.

She stayed low, just above the treetops, looking back briefly just to see if anyone was following. She didn't see anything. Still, her instincts told her that someone was there. It was dark now and the moon was out, which wasn't good. Whoever was following her could still see her, she speculated.

She looked back once again... There! Was that a flash of light? No... more like the moonlight glinting of something metal? Were her eyes playing tricks on her...? No...they're coming for her. Sooner or later she would have to stop, and that meant she would have to fight.

She looked ahead as she beat her wings smoothly and with solid rhythm. She caught something out of the corner of her eye. A few miles ahead to the northeast laid a bank of clouds. If there was someone following then this was the time to find out. She veered left and headed northeast towards the expanse of clouds.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Several hours had passed before the ring began to ping. The moon had come out as Green Lantern turned towards the direction of the source, which seemed to be coming from an area in northern Montana near the Canadian border. His heart began to beat faster when the ring began to ping rapidly. He stopped, hovering over a multitude of trees that looked to be obscuring a small cabin.

John reached out with his mind, hoping that the little wooden shelter housed a sleeping Shayera Hol. The projections revealed the cabin as being empty. However the ring did find something...

"Feathers...?"

He descended slowly to the front of the cabin. That's odd... he thought. It looked as if the door had been kicked in... Using the ring like a spotlight, John walked into the small room. He decided to use thermal detection as well, hoping that he could determine how long she'd been here. He spied thermal prints of small footsteps near the window, but the footsteps were larger at the entrance of the cabin. John placed the spotlight onto the cabin's door and sure enough it had a thermal footprint on it as well. The size of the footprint matched the ones in the entryway but not at the window. Is that Shayera's footprint at the window...? At the door... no way... Did she meet someone? Why would the door be kicked in...? The questions were starting to cloud his mind.

John pointed his power ring at the feathers, which were near the fireplace. The projections phased down to its molecular level, until it reached the DNA strand. Then John mentally brought up the imprinted strand from Shayera's blood sample and compared the two. They were identical. "She **was** here..." he sighed with relief.

John walked back out of the cabin and scanned the perimeter. There were many other footprints in the small clearing that looked as if they came from the north. What's goin' on here...?

He spotted another group of feathers close to the doorway of the cabin and proceeded to scan it. The feather's DNA was similar, but it didn't match Shayera's. "Thanagarian...?" John questioned.

He looked inside the doorway again and decided that there were no signs of a struggle. Is it possible that Shayera left the cabin before they got here...? John rationalized. Did she go with them willingly?

Shay...

The energy axe came from behind and up above, but Lantern raised a field up before it could strike him and it careened off him harmlessly. He turned to face his assailant, when a Thanagarian soldier swooped from the sky and dove into him.

Lantern rolled with the punch throwing the soldier clear from him, and landed to his feet in a crouch, his green eyes smoldering. His hands shimmered to emerald green as he created a six-foot staff.

He held it loosely with both hands when the first soldier rushed with his energy club held high to strike him in the head. Lantern side stepped to the right, parried the energy club with his staff by swinging the left side down, then followed with a blunt chop to the back of the Thanagarian's head with the right side while maintaining one fluid arc. The Thanagarian went limp as he fell in a heap to the ground.

The other rushed from the right, but met with a sharp poke to the mid section and a well-placed swing of the staff across the face that sent the winged man crashing into the side of the wooden cabin.

John looked around to see if there were any other soldiers. When he was satisfied that there weren't, he willed the staff away. These two were staking the cabin out... "They're trying to capture her..." he thought.

Lantern removed the gear from each soldier, and placed it in a pile near the cabin. He took their clothing, what little they had, and used it to bound and gag them. He then picked them up and placed them inside the cabin.

John focused on the gear that they carried, two communicators and two energy weapons. Using his ring, he picked up a communicator and began to scan it. Using his thermal imaging he was able to tell what buttons were used the most.

Lantern turned it on hoping to get some loose chatter...since no one would suspect that this little invasion had been discovered. "Static... spotted her on heading northeast...static... going into cloud basin... static..."

Green Lantern leaped up into the air, carrying the gear that he'd commandeered, and headed northeast. With that turn, suddenly... the power ring started to ping.

He shot across the night sky **praying** he wasn't too late.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

The mist of the clouds was thick and wet. It was hard to navigate within them. Shayera knew that it would be difficult for the Thanagarians to find her in the clouds. If they were out there they would have to come in and get her.

She needed to get her hands on a weapon. The wooden spear that she made wouldn't stand a chance against Thanagarian weaponry. She listened intently, while gently flapping her wings to maintain her position. How long had she been in here? Has it been an hour, two hours? Shayera wasn't sure. She didn't hear any sounds of any kind or anything that told her that her pursuers were close by.

_Patience..._ she smiled to herself, was never one of her virtues. If there were any Thanagarians in the clouds with her, she would have to be very silent when dealing with them. She'd prefer a one-on-one confrontation that would give her the best chance to disarm and take his weapon. That would tilt the odds a little more in her favor, ...but, only a little. Still, she knew that this would be more dependent on luck.

Then she heard something... a voice. Coming from her left. Maybe twenty yards away from her position. She froze, concentrating on flapping her wings a silently as possible.

"We're in the cloud base, now... we have spotters at each corner of this basin. If she leaves it we will know. Haven't seen anything yet," The voice said.

"Excellent... do a two by two search pattern... do not let her slip by you. She has nowhere else to go or no one to help her. You should have no trouble catching her," the voice responded through the soldier's communicator. "One more thing, if she gives you any trouble... **kill** her, all we would need is her body ."

"Acknowledged..." the other voice responded.

Hawkgirl realized that the voice on the communicator did not sound like Talek. She was right. This was someone else, someone who's looking to boost his career by delivering the head of the traitor to the Thanagarian populace.

Two by two search... she thought, meant forming a sensor net in between each man using the nth energy between each of their weapons. Not only could they cover more space, she could not get through unless she trips the net.

"This doesn't seem to be my day..." Shayera muttered, not liking the odds. Since they believed they could easily take her down, that might work to her favor. "Well, who wants to live forever? Not that I have anything to live for now anyway," she pondered with remorse.

Shayera took a deep breath. She was tired of running, she was tired of being treated like a criminal, but most of all she was tired of the guilt she was carrying. Wooden spear in hand, she was going to take the fight to them.

Just before she could let out her warcry, a strange thing happened. All of sudden she was encompassed inside a green energy bubble, and she was yanked upward. She was moving so fast she didn't see any of the Thanagarian soldiers that were searching for her.

All of sudden the stars broke into view. Shayera looked up and she couldn't believe her eyes. She saw _John Stewart_ carrying her into space.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Green Lantern rapidly sped upward through the Earth's atmosphere with the energy bubble close in tow, into the cold vacuum of space. He looked around cautiously suspecting that there were Thanagarian vessels in the area, however there were none to be seen. John shifted his focus back to the energy bubble. There she was, ...she looked a little rattled ... but other than that she was ok... he thought to himself with a sigh of relief.

He floated slowly down towards the energy bubble as he noticed that she was wearing the same jeans and white top she'd worn the day before, the weapon that she had in her right hand was a thick tree branch, which at one end was chiseled to a sharp point, and it was all the protection that she had. The look on her beautiful face was one of shock and disbelief. His heart began to beat faster as he slowly phased into the energy bubble until she was standing in front of him. His eyes locked on hers.

"Are you ...ok?" he spoke with concern in his voice.

Shayera couldn't believe it. How was this possible? How did he find her? What did this mean? Should she tell him that she had just given up? That she was tired of the way she was feeling and was about to attack however many hawkmen that were in the cloudbank? She didn't know what to say... all she knew was that she had another chance to tell him that she loved him... another chance to feel him next to her once again.

"J-John, w-where... d-did...?" she stammered.

"I tracked you..." he smiled. "I had to find you..."

They stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity until finally they kissed.

Shayera couldn't believe it. Her mind was in a whirlwind... he came after her. He loved her... even after all that has happened... he still loved her. She could feel it through his touch ... she could feel it down to her bones.

"I love you..." John whispered to her.

They held each other so tight, as if they were afraid to let go. John didn't want to let her out of his sight. He wanted to talk more about their relationship, but decided that they should talk about it once they returned home. He was going to ask her to stay with him until they could figure things out. Home, he thought, wasn't a home when she wasn't there with him, and it took less than twenty-four hours for him to figure that out.

"John?"

"Yeah..."

"I'm ... s-sorry... for h-hurting you." Shayera said quietly. "I didn't really know how to tell you about Hro. I never expected to meet anyone like you... and I wasn't prepared for any of this..." she said calming down.

"Any of what...?"

"Falling in love with you, John. I wasn't prepared... for us," she looked into John's face. Shayera wanted so much to love him; because she knew that without him she couldn't breathe. As long as he was with her, everything could work out.

John realized he felt the same way, he didn't expect to have such strong feelings for her, but he'd always felt the attraction especially when they were searching for War World about a year ago. Ever since then he'd always wanted to find a way to get closer to her. However, this will have to be a subject for another time. What was important now, was the impending threat on her life.

"We can talk about that later," he said still comforting her. "When we get home. Right now, we need to figure out what we're going to do about those soldiers that are after you."

"I'm wanted for high treason... dead or alive," Shayera remarked with a sad tone to her voice. "I heard the order myself, when I was hiding in the cloud bank."

John looked around, "I don't see the Mothership..."

Shayera followed his gaze, "You're right. I don't see the Command ship either."

"Do you think it's on the other side of the planet?"

"Only one way to find out, but before we go... here..." John took a shimmering energy bag from around his left shoulder. He opened the bag so that Shayera could peer inside. "Maybe these will help..."

She saw the two communicators and weapons that he'd commandeered earlier. "You've been a busy boy..." she said sarcastically. "How'd you get your hands on these?"

"I came across two Thanagarian soldiers at the cabin you stayed at..." Lantern replied. "I made them see the light."

This is more like it, she thought, as she picked up the energy club, and took it out of the bag. "This is way better that my first choice of weapons..." She smiled as she motioned toward the makeshift spear. "I'll turn on the communicator and see if we can hear anything," she suggested.

"Good idea..." Lantern agreed.

Lantern made a note of their position, and then willed the energy bubble to propel itself. While going around the Earth, he checked for any spatial anomalies, in which he found one halfway around the world just above the Asian continent.

"There's an ion trail...big one, too," John said, not convinced. "Could be the Mothership... let's see where it goes."

They followed it out towards the stars, passed the moon, towards Jupiter. "It looks like the Thanagarian armada pulled out..." John finally admitted.

"If that's true...then who's been chasing me all night?" Shayera wondered.

"You think these guys are dissidents?" John mused, as he willed the bubble to change course back to Earth and headed to their last position.

"Its possible, no command structure... yeah, I think these guys went renegade..." Shayera acknowledged. "They're looking for a little revenge."

"Maybe I ought to oblige them..." Shayera sneered, sounding more like her old self.

"Maybe **"we"** should...oblige them..." John added. "We're in this together... remember you're not by yourself anymore..."

"Yes... **"we"** are," she smiled, as she put her arm where his left arm intertwined with hers. Feeling the warmth from his body, she then realized that she was no longer alone.


	8. Chapter 8

The swirling mist from within the cloudbank made it difficult to see. Pilar P'thal wiped the condensation from the goggles she wore as she noted the positions of the soldiers that made up the sensor net. The scanning device she held displayed the net slowly collapsing itself toward the center of the cloud bank, however each soldier reported that no contact was ever made with the proposed target.

No one could have stayed within the net undetected. All avenues of escape were covered, all except one, to a higher altitude, close to the fringes of space._ But that would be suicide, there's no way she could survive up there_, she thought. The thanagarian lifted herself up above the veil of clouds with just a slight beating of her wings and looked into the void of sparkling stars up above. Yet somehow, Shayera Hol had eluded them... again.

With the rank of lieutenant and a member of the Thanagarian Special Forces unit known as the Black Talon, P'thal specialized in the retrieval of wanted fugitives. She knew that Hol was resourceful, but she had no idea that she was an escape artist as well.

She had met Shayera back when they were in the police academy together on Thanagar, and hadn't seen her in five years. They were friends... some would say they were close friends. P'thal remembered when Shayera accepted the mission to infiltrate Earth... to learn about their defenses ...their weaknesses. _How could Shayera have gotten herself into this position? _she thought. _Why would she go native and put the interests of the humans above her own people?_ Now, Thanagar only knows Hol as a traitor, and P'thal's mission is to bring the traitor to justice. Thanagarian justice.

What further puzzled P'thal was that the commanding officer didn't care if Shayera was brought in dead or alive... Which didn't make sense to her, because Shayera would be required to stand trial in front of the High Council to determine if she should be put to death. But the lieutenant commander had hinted that he wanted her dead. _Why?_

"Lieutenant. Report?!" a voice flared over her communicator which shook P'thal from her thoughts.

"Yes, sir. Sensor sweep is completed, and there is no sign of the target." P'thal reported, as she prepared herself for his reaction.

"Impossible!! She was trapped... how?" the voice snapped.

"I'm unable to answer that sir, we checked every centimeter of this cloudbank. There's no sign of her."

The communicator went silent.

"Your orders, sir?" P'thal asked, after several minutes of the abrupt silence.

"Sir...?"

"Lieutenant, return to base..." the voice ordered.

"Yes, sir..."

P'thal flew towards her fellow Black Talon and whistled sharply, "Let's pack it up..." she ordered. "We're to return to base..."

* * *

Lantern peered up at the projected display showing the positions of all of the thanagarian soldiers searching through the mass of clouds. He watched as they slowly made their way inward, actually covering every square inch of the clouds as they made their sensor sweep. He realized that he pulled Shayera out before they had a chance to create their net, otherwise things would have been a bit more interesting.

Shayera had fallen asleep within five minutes after they'd returned to the initial coordinates from where they'd first entered space. John knew she was exhausted, and she probably didn't eat anything as well. He mentally erected a small cushioned bed within the energy bubble, and placed her on it so that she could be more comfortable.

* * *

She stirred fitfully in her sleep, her body still restless. Her nightmare had returned, the League member's faces were filled with distrust. Even Lantern's face became contorted.

"I love you...but, I don't know if I can ever trust you..."

"WITHOUT TRUST HOW CAN THERE BE LOVE?!!" his contorted face screamed.

Hro Talek's face jumped into her dream... "ShAyErA..." he was smiling grotesquely, "yOu Don'T rEAlly bELieVe tHat thIs WeAk-mInDed fOoL is EvER gOinG to TruST yOu... SuReLY YoU cAn't bE thAt nAivE..."

Talek's face kept getting closer, laughing. "I DiD, aNd lOok WhAt it gOt mE!!"

"YoU DoN't kNoW aNyThinG aBoUt LoVE...!!"

She saw the look on John's face, the same look he had when Talek had kissed her in front of him.

"HOW CAN I EVER TRUST YOU AGAIN?!!" John's voice screamed again.

"YoU aRe GoiNg tO rIp tHe FoOl'S hEarT oUt aGaiN!!" Talek's image chimed in with delight.

"CAN'T TRUST YOU! CAN'T TRUST YOU! CAN'T TRUST YOU!" echoed throughout her mind.

"I'm sorry..." she said, to no one in particular. "I SAID THAT I'M S-SORRY!! I-I THOUGHT I WAS DOING THE RIGHT THING ... I DIDN'T KNOW!!!" her voice shrilled.

"YOU CAN TRUST ME!! YOU CAN TRUST ME!!" she said over and over.

* * *

John looked over at her when he heard her whimper, heard her sobbing in her sleep. He studied her face, noticed the perspiration that trickled on her brow, how she frowned as her face moved slightly from side to side, and her fists clenched.

"static... report...static..." the communicator suddenly sprang to life.

John turned, listening intently.

"static... sweep is completed... static... no sign of target..." one voice reported.

"static...how?" the other voice questioned.

"Unable to answer...static... checked every ...static..."

After several minutes of silence. "...static... return to base..."

Lantern saw the projected images gather at the center quadrant of the display and dispersed in a southern direction. He mentally thought of one word as he descended the energy bubble towards the Earth's atmosphere. Stealth.

The energy bubble began to shimmer, the green glow of the light rays around it began to invert, and the bubble, its occupants had seem to just disappear.

From within the energy bubble, Lantern propelled it to keep pace with the hawkmen.

"What's goin' on?" Shayera asked groggily, as she sat up wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"They're on the move..." John reported quietly.

"You ok? Looked like you were having a nightmare..." he commented as glanced at her briefly.

"I'm ok", she replied, trying not to think about the images that were still fresh in her mind. "What are we going to do when we know where their base is located?"

"Don't know yet. I would suggest that we find out what we're up against first."

"Agreed..."

* * *

The hawkmen flew south until they reached the mountainous area which looked to be near the northern region of Nevada. They landed in a small clearing within a valley shrouded with trees and surrounded by the mountains. From what John could tell, there was no populace near their location.

The momentum of the energy bubble slowed, hovering over the clearing as Lantern pointed his ring in the direction of the Hawkmen. The display within the bubble showed the group of thanagarian soldiers walking toward a cave entrance located at the base of the mountain.

Shayera looked astonished, as she recognized a face on the display.

"I know her..." she whispered.

_Pilar... they sent Pilar after me...?_ she thought. _Did she go renegade?_ Shayera then recognized the insignia she wore on her chest plate. _The Black Talon..._ The Talon answered only to the High Council and to no one else. Which meant that she would have to face the Tribunal if she was captured. Then why did they want her dead before she would stand trial for her betrayal?

She had heard the orders herself... _Dissidents...no._ They were there to retrieve a fugitive.

"John... these soldiers are Black Talon..."

"So..."

"That means that they are Special Forces... on a fugitive retrieval mission. That also means that they're here to take me back to stand trial. They're not here to kill me."

"What about what you heard when you were in the clouds... d-didn't you say that they wanted you dead?" John asked.

"I know... but I've worked with the Talon before... that's their job."

"What do you want to do?"

"Let's take a closer look..."

* * *

Lantern landed the bubble about a quarter of a mile out from the hawkmen's position. After using the ring to show the whereabouts of the soldiers, he decided it would be better to scout the area on foot before taking any kind of action.

"Their camp is north from here..." Lantern pointed out. "Keep your eyes open...this smells like a trap..."

"Why do you say that?" Shayera questioned.

"There's a chance that they may have found those two soldiers I came across at the cabin."

"Oh yeah..."

Hawkgirl held the energy club in her right hand more securely, grateful that she no longer had to rely on the wooden spear for protection. She felt uneasiness beginning to build in her for having John involved in all of this. This whole thing was clearly her fault, and if anything was to happen to him she would never forgive herself.

They worked their way up to the edge of the clearing. Lantern looked over the area. Nothing moved. Total silence. No sounds from the night what so ever.

"You hear that?"

"No, what...?" Shayera looked around cautiously.

"That's just it... no sound, almost as if we walked into a dome..."

Lantern never finished the thought. The weapons fire came so abruptly that his power ring barely fired up a shield in time. He was right... it was trap! They were waiting for them.

"Cloaked...?" he wondered.

The soldiers were all around, firing laser blasts at them from every angle. Hawkgirl then lifted herself up into the middle of the clearing, electrifying her energy club, and back-flipped into a diving arc towards a group of thanagarian soldiers.

"uuUUUHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!" she roared as used the club to beat back the energy blasts and sent back a massive blow when she used the club to hit the ground that made the small group of soldiers lose their balance.

In she went with the ferocity of a bird of prey. She struck decisively and quick. Energy club intercepting laser blasts, sending them back to their point of origin. Hawkgirl jumped into the air and drove her foot into the face of one soldier and tossed another into a group that were trying to rush her from her left. She then struck another soldier with a swift kick to his sternum, and drove her fist into another soldier's face changing the shape of his helmet.

Green Lantern had provided cover to Hawkgirl as she made her attack, only to be rushed upon by five soldiers coming from all directions. They pummeled him with their blows only to hit the shield he had erected. All of sudden the shield seemed to gather itself inward with energy and released itself in an massive outward motion sending the winged men flying in every direction. Lantern sent out laser blasts of his own, slicing as many energy weapons he could find.

He studied their attack pattern and saw that they were trying to get in between Hawkgirl and himself. He started to head towards the group when he saw the grenade hit the ground close to his position. The explosion caught him as he took to the sky, the impact sent him into the surrounding trees near the clearing. Lantern dodged the first tree, however he wasn't so lucky with the second. He hit the tree with such a force that his body left an imprint upon its bark.

Hawkgirl saw the explosion, Lantern's body thrown into the trees.

"John!!" the memory of the Joker's explosion jumped into her mind.

All she saw was red. She didn't hate her people, but they just stepped over the line when they decided to hurt the one she loved. No one did that...EVER!! She didn't care about nothing else, she was going to make sure that he was alright. She tossed the Talon soldiers around as if they were nothing. The face she wore wasn't one that she normally had shown, her face was no longer one of a delicate flower. The soldiers had no idea that one woman could have such skills in combat, the ferocious sneer on her face sent chills through them as she used those skills to get closer to the man she loved.

The blow had come from behind. Shayera tried to block the attack, but she was too late. She screamed in defiance as it caught her on the back of her head and sent her into the blackness of unconsciousness. Before she blacked out, she turned around to see her friend, Pilar P'thal, holding an energy mace in her right hand.

"Hello...Shayera. It's been a long time..."

The ring's aura had cushioned the blow he took from the blast and from his crashing into the tree. Lantern was angry now. He wasn't trying to hurt anyone, he was there to make sure that Shayera would have backup. He even held back, but the gloves were off now. Then he heard her scream. He got up onto his feet about to make a charge into the clearing.

"Human... if you do not come out from the trees... I will have her throat slit..." a voice said.

Lantern stopped in his tracks. He peered around the tree, saw a soldier holding the unconscious Hawkgirl's head up by her hair, a knife in hand held under her neck.

"The choice is yours, Green Lantern," the voice threatened. "Come out now and give me your power ring..."

Shayera started to stir, her head was in pain.

"We're waiting... John Stewart. My patience is starting to wear thin."

"NO! John... Don't worry about me... save yourself!!" Shayera yelled trying to stay awake.

"Nothing would please me more than to see you die... Lieutenant Hol," the voice said maliciously.

The man that possessed the voice came from within the darkness of the cave, and walked out into plain view.

Shayera looked up and saw who wanted her dead. She laughed to herself at the irony.

"Kragger..."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Lantern quickly slipped into stealth mode, rose above the grass, careful of not brushing against the tree branches above him, and cautiously made his way out into the clearing. Kragger was standing not more than fifteen feet from Shayera. He remembered him from the introduction when he first met Talek and found out about Shayera's betrothal. _Why would he want Shayera dead?_

Shayera was on her knees, and appeared to be coping with the grogginess from the blow she received not moments before. He counted eighteen soldiers within the clearing; five were standing behind the soldier that grasped Shayera by her hair, his knife held dangerously close to her neck, which made it too risky for Lantern to rush him.

P'thal signaled to a group of Talon soldiers closest to the trees to search for Green Lantern. Everything was quiet, too quiet for her taste. The soldiers focused first on the area that the explosive had hurled the human, which was near a group of outlying trees within the edge of the clearing. They next searched the under brush within a thirty foot radius, and signaled back that he was not there. _Where is he? _P'thal contemplated. The human couldn't have flown away... they would've seen him.

"Let me say this once more. Time is running out for Lieutenant Hol, Green Lantern. Either give up your power ring... or **she dies**..." Kragger smiled neurotically.

Suddenly there was an abrupt rustling of tree limbs and the scattering of leaves to the right of the clearing, a green hued form shot upward into the night sky heading southward.

"There he goes!" a soldier shouted.

"Don't let him get **away**!!!" Kragger gasped rigidly. "Bring him **back**...!!"

P'thal looked around. "Take two squads... **Go**!!"

Shayera found it difficult to focus on anything; but she heard the shouting of orders, and the beating of wings somewhere to her right. Through her dizziness she saw the contingent of soldiers moving swiftly upward into the sky. She prayed that John would get away, and if he did, she would be glad. She on the other hand, was beginning to accept her fate.

* * *

The Black Talon soldiers were beating their wings in unison as they tried to close in on the fleeing human. They prided themselves as being the Elite of the Thanagarian Armed Forces, and no mere human was going to tarnish their reputation. They were briefed on the Green Lantern's weaknesses and the lead soldier pulled out the yellow ray disruptor, which should render the human inutile, however the human was too far away for him to get a clear shot. They had to get closer.

* * *

"Let him **go**!! He has nothing to do with this...!!" Shayera spat, vision still blurred. 

Kragger gazed upon Shayera, smiling wickedly.

"Did you think you would just walk away from what you have done? That there would be no price to pay?"

"Well, Lieutenant... **HE** will be your price..."

"I don't think so..." a voice from the middle of the clearing countered.

* * *

The emerald hued form veered left sharply, and so did its pursuers. The Talan managed to close the gap, and was prepared to fire the disruptor. Just as the Talon soldier pressed the trigger, the human form dispersed into nothingness before the beam reached its target.

* * *

The voice came from within earshot of where P'thal stood. She saw the green energy bolt shoot out from the middle of the clearing, and hit the lone soldier holding Shayera on the left side of his face. The force of the blow sent the soldier reeling to his right that caused his hand with the knife to go in the same direction, falling away from Shayera's neck. Before the remaining group of the Talon could react, Lantern materialized slamming energy beams into them all simultaneously, catching them completely off-guard. 

P'thal attempted to sweep herself up into the air, but Lantern was too quick. The energy bolt caught her in the chest, and sent her sprawling to the ground. Kragger tried to run back into the cave entrance, however green energy in the shape of a giant hand streaked across the few feet that separated him from Lantern and shoved the Thanagarian Commander into a horrific collision with the rock wall of the mountain.

Lantern scooped Hawkgirl up into his arms and at top speed headed northeast away from the encampment. He looked back to make sure that he wasn't followed. _That was sloppy...Stewart! We were lucky this time..._ he reflected.

"Hey... you all right?"

"Think I'm gonna feel this for awhile..." Shayera replied, blinking her eyes, trying to clear her vision. "I thought you left me...?"

"No way..."

"Well... maybe you should have. Now they're gonna want your head, too."

"So what... Look, I told you... we're in this together." John smiled.

She put her arms around his neck and kissed him slowly on his cheek.

John brought her closer to him, feeling her weight, recognizing how much he had missed holding her. He wouldn't exchange this moment for anything.

"Where we headed?" she asked absently, her eyes closed.

"My place..."

A/N: I want to thank everyone for their reviews on my project. This is my first and I welcome any constructive criticism. Thanks again.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Green Lantern had retained the use of his stealth mode moments after they had made their escape, consistently peering down at a ring constructed device that would warn him of any uninvited guests that were trying to track them. The sun was beginning to peek idly over the eastern horizon when they reached his home, and they drifted slowly to an unopened window on the far west side of the building. Since it was still fairly dark, they were able to slip into his apartment unseen.

Hawkgirl had dozed off and on during their cross-country trek, and Lantern wanted nothing more than to have her get some much needed rest. He knew that it would be only a matter of time before the Thanagarians would start looking for her again, but he also knew that it would take a lot more time for them to trace her here, so Shayera should have a brief respite to recuperate before they would have to find a more secure location.

Shayera touched the back of her head as she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, her vision much clearer now.

"Ow... she didn't have to hit me so hard," she observed.

"Who...?"

"Pilar... she's the one who hit me on the back of my head..."

"She's a friend of yours..."

"Yeah... she was just doing her job... it was nothing personal..."

"You sure about that...?" John asked not convinced.

"Yeah... we were in the academy together, hadn't seen her in five years."

Shayera decided that a shower before sleep would be in good order. It had been a few days since her last one and was convinced that she needed one badly.

John took out a pair of clean sweat pants, an extra large tee shirt that he conveniently cut out two slots in the back of the shirt, so that her wings would fit through, and left them on the bed.

He went back into the living room, sat down on the sofa, and listened to the water running in his bathroom. John felt at home again, even though he knew that this was temporary. He had planned on bringing her back to stay with him, but it seemed that now wasn't the right time to talk about it. He needed to see how all of this would play out.

The sound of running water had stopped, and he knew she was busy drying herself off. He wanted to take a peek, but chivalry kept him at arm's length. The situation wasn't the same... he sat there frozen unable to think clearly on what was proper. When they were together before, he wouldn't have given it a second thought, but now...

"You ok in there..." he asked almost embarrassed as he approached the bathroom door.

"Uh... yeah... I'm fine... thanks," she answered casually, hearing the uneasiness in his voice. "You wouldn't happen to have a comb would ya?"

"Yeah... sure... give me a minute," John mumbled, trying to remember where he had put it. He'd been wearing a fade for so long, there was no need for him to use a comb anymore. _Ah... the linen closet..._ he'd finally remembered. He was excited once he found it.

"Here ya go..."

Her hand reached through the doorway and took the comb from him, leaving the door partially opened.

"Thanks."

John couldn't help but gaze through the doorway at the movements of the contoured shadow of her body, as she combed her hair, in which the rays of the sun from the bathroom window painted on the adjacent wall.

_What am I doing..._ he questioned, realizing that he was standing there longer than he intended. He knew he loved her, but he never considered that he would feel so awkward... so frightened... to have her around him once more.

"Hungry?" he asked, clearing his throat nervously.

"I'm famished..."

Glad he could get his mind on something other than what he wanted to do, he recalled having some eel heads that he mistakenly bought from the Chinese restaurant sometime ago. He didn't see the point in throwing them out so he had stored them in the freezer. He slowly thawed them out in the microwave, boiled some rice, then cooked them in a wok with olive oil, and prepared the dish he embellished "Eel fried rice". He knew that this was her favorite, and wanted to make sure she got something in her stomach.

He was sitting on the sofa watching television when she came out, dressed in the clothes he had laid out for her. He almost busted a gut when he saw her in the tee shirt.

"What?" she asked looking around.

"Nothin'... just loving your new look. Food's on the stove."

He actually did love the way she looked; it made him feel like she belonged there, wings and all. But he hesitated to talk about it; he didn't want to put any pressure on her, considering the situation. So he bit his lip, and decided to keep it to himself for now.

After she ate and followed it up with a glass of cola, she let out a loud belching noise that only Shayera could make. John laughed knowing that she enjoyed the meal. She laughed with him because only he would find something as an innocent belch to be worthy of a belly laugh.

Shayera came over to the sofa, sat down beside him, and put her head on his shoulder. He smelled the fragrance from her hair, her body. _Man! How I've missed that..._ She hadn't sat next to him like that since before the occupation.

"It's been awhile since I laughed like that," she noted.

"Me, too," he said with a look of sadness.

Shayera saw the look, and it confirmed the nightmares she'd been having since the Thanagarians arrived, since she betrayed him.

"John, ... we have to talk... but I need you to be honest with me."

"Ok..."

"I've been meaning to ask you... how did you find me?"

"I used my ring to analyze a sample of your blood, broke it down to your DNA, and used it to home in on you."

"Wow... sort of like a... beacon, huh?"

"Yeah... I guess I did..."

Shayera looked down as she place her hand on his...

"But... why?"

"I had to find you..." John shifted his gaze to look her in the eye. "I had to tell you how I felt..."

"Yeah, but... how can you still love me...?" she looked up into his eyes. "After what I did to you?

"After the pain... I put you through... there was no way that you deserved that." Shayera added. "And I would have understood if you didn't ever want to see me again..."

"I felt that way at first, but... I couldn't be without you. Don't you see, that I need you with me? Here. In my heart, all I know is that I felt empty without you, Shay."

"John, the pain is still there... in your eyes."

She got up and walked away from him toward the window, her shoulders slumped. "You don't need me, you need someone that can be honest and upfront with you. Someone you can trust. I didn't give you either."

"Yeah, but weren't there circumstances involved? What you're talking about is a normal relationship, but what we had was far from normal. It doesn't mean that we can't find a way to make it work." John deliberated.

"Can we? Without trust?"

"Trust can be earned..."

"I don't deserve to have someone like you... wanting me... loving me..." she sighed.

John walked over to her, put his arms around her, kissing the back of her head. "That sounds like guilt to me... and that's understandable."

"Is it...?"

"Yeah... and soon you'll get over it, as I will... with all that's happened."

"Maybe..."

John noted the change in her voice, more like a deep regret that could never be redeemed.

"You know that I forgave you, but I think you need to forgive yourself, first."

"John... you know that they're gonna keep coming for me, right?" She turned to face him, staring into his eyes. "They will never stop."

"What are trying to tell me?" John asked feeling more anxiety now.

"Nothing... I'm just tired..." she yawned.

"Come on... go get some sleep," he ordered.

"Ok..."

John walked her to the bedroom, watched her climb into the bed, and before he knew it she was sound asleep. He stood there watching her, wondering what was going on in that pretty little head of hers. For some reason he had a strange feeling that she wasn't going to stay with him, that she didn't want to cause him any more pain. It was a feeling he couldn't get rid of, even when he assured himself, that she wasn't causing him any pain. _Is that why I hesitated about talking about our future?_

John decided to shake it off, went into the bathroom, showered, dried himself off, and put on some sweats he had kept in his dresser. He walked over to the den area of the apartment, reached out, pointed his ring to the wall and recited his oath:

_In Brightest Day..._

_In Blackest Night..._

_No Evil Shall Escape My Sight..._

_Let Those Who Worship Evil's Might..._

_Beware My Power..._

_Green Lantern's Light!_

The lantern battery appeared and recharged his power ring. John exhaled slowly as he felt his whole body being charged up with the limitless power of Oa's main battery. It was good to be home again.

He went over to his sofa, stretched out across it, laying on his back, and closed his eyes. Just as he was about to fall asleep, he felt a pair of warm hands on his arm. When he opened his eyes he saw her with a slight smile reaching down to pull his hands up urging him upward off the couch. She then turned, her hand pulling his hand beckoning him back into the bedroom.

* * *

When he awoke, he had never felt better. His whole outlook on the latest events was starting to take a turn for the better. John couldn't remember the last time he woke up with a smile on his face. He rolled over to kiss the face of the woman he loved only to find that she wasn't there, her side of the bed was empty. He looked at the time, 17:48 was on the face of the clock. _Wow...slept more than eight hours..._ The apartment was deathly silent.

"Hey... you could have woke a brother..." he stopped mid-sentence as he came out of the bedroom into the spacious front room. No Shayera. _Bathroom?_

She wasn't in the bathroom as well. _What the..._ John was confused, she didn't mention she was going anywhere. Maybe she went to the Chinese restaurant. He walked over to the kitchen area, saw a slip of paper on the counter top. He excitely picked up the note hoping it would reveal when she was going to return. His expression slowly dissipated to shock as he read the note:

_John,_

_I want you to know that I love you more _

_than anything in my life. I know that if I _

_had told you what I intended to do that you _

_would have talked me out of it. Everything _

_that has happened to us, the League, to this _

_planet is all because of me. When I look into_

_your eyes, I see the deep pain that I have_

_caused you, and I am so very sorry for that. _

_I've decided to surrender myself to my people _

_and face the tribunal. John, I need to pay for _

_what I've done, and I can't let you be in the_

_middle of it. Please forget about me, let me _

_go. Get on with your life, and find _

_someone that will give you what you deserve._

_Please don't come after me, you're better off _

_without me._

_Goodbye,_

_Shayera_

No... not again... 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

P'thal stared at the view screen within the command center, scanning for any clues that would lead to the escapees current whereabouts. This Green Lantern was a bit more adroit than what the reports had indicated; for there was no mention that he was a skilled tactician. No one had ever eluded the Black Talon so easily. She could see why Shayera was intrigued with these humans.

"Any progress, Lieutenant?" Kragger asked as he walked into the command center.

Kragger's demeanor was one of utter contempt. He refused to believe that one human had the ability to out maneuver his genius. He **had** her, even had a chance to kill the human, but somehow the opportunity worked in their favor. For now, that is. He would find her again, she couldn't escape, and he knew it. He would pursue her to the end of his days because she deserved nothing more than for him to slide the blade of his knife into her deceitful heart, so that he can watch the life drain from her putrid body slowly. He smiled; it would be better if she suffered prior to her slow death.

"Nothing to report at this time, sir," P'thal stated, noting the look of disdain across his lips.

"How is it that we cannot find them?"

"I cannot answer that, Commander. Perhaps we do not know where to look?"

"The records do not mention the location of Green Lantern's civilian home?" Kragger demanded incredulously.

"No... there is no mention."

"What about that cave location?"

"Currently under surveillance... so far nothing."

"Lieutenant... I want to stress one thing to you...when she is found I want her **killed**. No questions."

_What the..._ P'thal cleared her throat. "Sir, may I remind you... that our mission is to capture Lieutenant Hol ...**alive** to stand before the Tribunal. The High Council will make the decision of whether she lives or dies."

Kragger eyed her slyly. "Of course, Lieutenant. I stand corrected."

He turned, headed for the exit of the command center, and then hesitated, his back still to her, "How do you know Lieutenant Hol?"

"Uh... we were at the academy together."

"I see... and what's your opinion of her now?" he asked, while listening intently.

"I believe that she is guilty of high treason..."

"Do you believe that she should be put to **death** for her treachery?"

"It's irrelevant what I believe, sir. My job is to carry out what the High Council have asked me to do... nothing more."

"Then carry on ... Lieutenant. And thank you," he said as he walked out the room.

"Sir..." she nodded. _What was that about..._ P'thal pondered, returning to her task of finding the possibilities that could hopefully lead to Shayera's capture.

* * *

Shayera was certain that she was doing the right thing, because her sanity had depended on it. She has always had a tremendous sense for right and wrong. One could say that that was one of her two weaknesses the other was John Stewart.

When she was lying in bed she knew that the nightmares would return so she didn't even bother to go to sleep. All she knew was that she had made her decision to turn herself in after the discussion she shared with John. After that look of heavy sadness on his face, she just couldn't let him be unhappy with her any longer. He had to move on. She knew that he would never leave her, so she would have to leave him. It was for his own good.

Anyway, in her mind, she didn't leave empty-handed. She would always remember the feeling of completeness that she felt while he held her in his arms. The feeling of unity when she actually fell asleep with no nightmares after she had said goodbye to him in her own special way. She wanted it to be the last thing from John that she would cherish for the rest of her days. _Which may not be for much longer... _she thought.

It had been a little over three hours since she had left the warmness of the sanctuary that was his home, which she would have gladly called hers as well, but certain factors wouldn't allow it.

She felt she was well out of the vicinity of John's home, and it wouldn't be in range for the Thanagarians to ascertain its location when they would attempt to triangulate her position. _He'll be safe now_, she thought as she pulled out the communicator that John had given to her earlier.

"Lieutenant P'thal...over..."

Silence.

"Lieutenant Pilar P'thal... this is Lieutenant Hol... over."

"This is Lieutenant P'thal... over."

"Hello Pilar, I wish to discuss the terms for my **surrender**...over."

* * *

P'thal was dumbfounded; she never would have thought that Shayera would give herself up.

"Lieutenant Hol... are you sure that you want to do this? Over."

"Y-yeah I'm sure... over."

"We have her position on the scope, Lieutenant," a Talon soldier reported.

"Very well..." P'thal answered, confused at Shayera's request. "Bring her in..."

P'thal look down, she realized that she secretly wanted Shayera to get away, to stay hidden from the political circus that this would bring on.

"A contingent is en route to your position now... over" she said dejectedly.

"Inform Commander Kragger that the prisoner is surrendering to us..." P'thal ordered.

* * *

The moon was mid-way along its lonely trek within the night sky, as the contingent of winged warriors returned to the thanagarian-enclosed encampment. The cave entrance was dimly lit, but once inside, one could see that several structures were built to house the Talon soldiers comfortably. Shayera Hol, her hands shackled, was led through the twists and turns of the cave dwelling until finally arriving to a make shift hangar for the crew carriers that were parked there. They made their way to the command center, where P'thal and Kragger awaited their arrival.

"Lieutenant Hol..." Kragger was grinning devilishly.

"It is so good that you made it here without incident... Tell me, why did you decide to surrender?"

"Simple... I didn't want anyone else to get hurt because of my actions. I wanted to put an end to this, to all of this," Shayera surmised.

"Excellent... I'm glad that you decided to meet your fate head on."

"When do I go before the High Council? I'd like to make sure that they know my side of the story..."

It wasn't until Shayera spoke those words that P'thal suddenly realized what Kragger was so happy about. Now she knew.

"Well, that would be a problem..." Kragger said with glee. "You see, Lieutenant... you won't be able to say anything in your defense. In your absence, a law was passed on Thanagar that states: **'if the accused commits an act of treason and there is evidence of such an act, the accused cannot defend one self. The council will only listen to such arguments from a thanagarian citizen free of malice, that is a witness to the act, and is willing to speak on behalf of the accused.'**"

He walked up to Shayera, grabbing her chin between his thumb and forefinger.

"So, as you can see, no one ...will speak on your behalf, and that means that you... are going to ...**die**." Kragger laughed mockingly.

The fury was beginning to build within her when she heard his laughter. She didn't know what she did to him that made her so detestable to him, but enough was enough. Shayera brought her shackled hands up so quickly that Kragger didn't have time to step back and avoid the wrenching blow she sent to his jaw. He fell to the floor still laughing.

"P'thal take the Lieutenant to the holding cell," he spoke still holding his jaw, getting off the floor. "Get me the High Council, this I have to report myself!"

"Yes, sir..." a Talon soldier replied.

* * *

The force field made a slight humming noise as it came up in the holding cell. Shayera hated the noises of being locked up. Her greatest fear of all time is being caged, or the feeling of being trapped, especially in small places.

"Same old Shayera..." P'thal remarked. "Always jumping in before knowing what's involved..."

"Yeah... I guess some things never change," Shayera smiled. "But, believe it or not, I really thought this through. I didn't know about the change to the law. Oh well..."

"How's the head...?"

"I'm fine...It's really good to see you, Pilar. How have you been?"

"I'm good... just wish I could help you out of this..."

"Don't worry about me... it's just time for me to pay for my sins. That's all."

"How long have you been a part of the Black Talon?" Shayera asked.

"Couple of years now... never expected to see your name on my retrieval list."

P'thal looked away, hating to see that Shayera would be treated unfairly at the Tribunal.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure..."

"Shayera... why? **Why** did you do it?"

Shayera looked up, holding back the tears. "These are a noble people, Pilar. We had no right to destroy their civilization so that we can win a war."

"And John Stewart...?"

P'thal studied the look on Shayera's face. Her eyes softened at the mere mention of his name and her lower lip quivered as she searched for an answer.

"John was an accident... I-I didn't mean to fall in love with him. He's just..." her voice trailed off. "I don't want to talk about him."

P'thal was puzzled. What manner of man was this John Stewart to make Shayera Hol so feeble? She never spoke this way for Hro Talek, and in her opinion, he was as strong as they could come. It was clear that Shayera was in love with this human. Deeply.

"Well... it doesn't matter. I just wish I could talk to the High Council on your behalf... but I can't because I wasn't there... **wait-a-minute!!**"

"What about the **T'jinn Jakat**?" P'thal suggested.

Shayera's eyes widened. "**NO!!** You can't... that's not even an option!"

"But maybe he would..." P'thal interjected.

"**NO!!** It's too **dangerous**... and I've put him through enough as it is..."

"So what are you going to do... just accept the **verdict of death**?!!"

"I don't have a choice..." Shayera conceded.

"You do have a **choice**... you're just not willing to make it..."

"You have to promise me, Pilar ...that you will not ask him...!"

"Shayera..."

"**PROMISE ME...!!!"**

"All right... all right. It's your life ...isn't it?" P'thal replied, clearly disappointed with her decision.

"Thank you..."

* * *

**"PROMISE ME...!!!"**

The light from the view screen illuminated his features as he sat back with armored hands clasped together, up to his face, his fore fingers tapping his lips. He reached out and turned the view screen off.

_T'jinn Jakat..._ Kragger smiled, an evil and twisted smile. Who would have thought a simple, innocent, even an honorable rite could help effectuate his revenge two-fold, and not even Lieutenant Hol would be able to prevent herself from suffering before her own slow, and painful death. _This might work...just might work..._


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

_Déjà vu...?_ Lantern thought as he streaked across the night sky, like some emerald comet descending upon the Earth. She had left before, and again he was setting out to find her. However, this time, it was different, for he knew exactly where to look. He also knew that she didn't want to be saved from her 'fate', but he wasn't about to give up on her that easily. He had imagined starting a new future with her, and hadn't anticipated any hindrance toward their chance at happiness. Life, however, had made things a bit more challenging. Shayera's letter reflected the guilt that she had in her heart, and Lantern knew that it wouldn't allow her to embrace anything in her life, it only made her want to sacrifice all that she held dear, even her own life.

He could relate to everything that she was going through. Wasn't it just a few years ago when the Manhunters appeared on Earth to arrest him for the destruction of Ajuris Four? Didn't he also surrender himself to that same exact emotion, because he thought he had destroyed over three billion lives? Shayera didn't give up on him when he wanted nothing more than to face his 'fate', which in his own mind was what he had also chosen. She believed in him even when he wasn't willing to believe in himself. Could he do no less for her? Besides, what did she expect him to do? Just sit back and allow 'fate' to take her from him, to presume that he will move on with his life without her? Didn't she hear a word he had said to her...? _Apparently not... _John thought dispiritedly.

* * *

He touched down into a small clearing, surrounded by a thick forest, nearly fifteen miles east of the thanagarian camp, and receded into the cover of the trees. He had planned to use one of the communicators to monitor for loose chatter, which had worked before, however he had discovered the broken fragments of it in his kitchen trash, undoubtedly Shayera's attempt to keep him from undertaking what he's about to do now. _Time for 'Plan B'..._ he thought urgently, quickly bringing up the images of the alien technology from an earlier scan, and proceeded to make a construct of the device with his ring. 

The composed mechanism, glowing with the brightness of malachite, immediately screeched to life with static at first, and then a few unspecified, but distinctive tones, modulated across one of its bandwidths, changing every few seconds. _A rotating carrier wave_... Lantern mused, as he recognized the repeating pattern of the electronic pulses. Using his ring, he started to make some adjustments to the construct's fine-tuning, and eventually matched the transmitted signal to its appropriate frequency.

_This is an automated message for John Stewart. We are aware that you have access to our communications... It is imperative that you respond to this message for it is in regard to a significant development for Lieutenant Hol's current situation. Please respond. There will be no hostile action taken toward you in any manner. Please respond... _

Astonished by the message, Lantern wasn't sure whether or not to answer the transmitted invitation. He knew that if he were to respond, it would be possible for them to trace the signal to his current position. After careful deliberation, he decided to take the risk, but with an exception, he would generate a scrambling signal to follow his voice transmissions, which should dissipate the signal enough to prevent anyone from tracing it back to its originating source. Whatever the circumstances, in his mind, the risk was worth taking.

"This is John Stewart..."

Several minutes had slipped passed; the electronic tones were still repeating, and then stopped abruptly.

"John Stewart... this is Commander Kragger. I can see that you are still cautious to our intentions, and by all means, I can understand your reasons. I assure you that we have no hostile intentions toward you. As you may already know, Lieutenant Hol had surrendered to us several hours ago, and what I have to tell you... well, it is regarding her situation. Are you interested in hearing more?"

"That depends..."

"All right. Let's say that a dire development has arisen, which may affect the decision of whether she lives or dies."

"From what I understand, Kragger, you want her dead anyway... so why tell me?"John asked with skepticism.

"It makes no difference to me, Green Lantern. Actually, I'm looking forward to her receiving the death sentence. I just thought that in all fairness... if there were a chance for her to live... you might want to do something about it. That is... of course... if you're interested..."

"Your concern for her well being is commendable..." John scoffed, sensing that there was something more to what Kragger had in mind than what he had actually said.

"Yeah... we can meet."

"Excellent, then come to our encampment... I believe you still remember our coordinates. In say ...one hour?"

"Yeah... I'll be there."

* * *

Kragger sat back in his chair, his eyes gleaming, shutting off his transceiver.

"Yes..."

* * *

Lantern descended slowly to the front of the dimly lit cave entrance of the thanagarian stronghold. He was wary to any movement within the area for signs of an ambush like before, but nothing seemed to indicate that anything was out of the ordinary.

A young thanagarian woman, face masked by her golden helmet, walked out of the cave's darkness to meet him. It was uncanny that her stature were strikingly similar to Shayera's, the only difference was that her hair was darker in color. She stopped in front of him, all the while trying to hide her uneasiness, but Lantern could clearly see that she wasn't expecting him.

"Green Lantern or shall I call you... John Stewart?" she asked smiling.

"John Stewart is fine."

"Good. My name is Lieutenant Pilar P'thal. Commander Kragger has just informed me of your arrival, and asked me to escort you to his meeting chamber. Please... this way."

P'thal motioned for Lantern to follow her into the cave entrance. As they walked through the cave's labyrinth, John noted all of the structures and equipment that he saw, but couldn't tell how long they had been there.

"I want to apologize about the little skirmish from yesterday," P'thal said lightly, while looking back at him momentarily, still impressed with the fighting prowess that both Green Lantern and Hawkgirl had displayed.

"You were the first to ever escape the Black Talon in a long time."

"P'thal... hmmm... Shayera mentioned you, she said that you two were ...friends," he commented, realizing the name that the young winged woman had just given him.

"Yes, that is correct. We met at the police academy, about six years ago."

"I see... close friends?" John asked, trying to get an insight of the lieutenant.

"Yes, we actually shared a room together during that year. We got to know each other pretty well. I would like to think that we still are...friends."

"I see... Where is Shayera?"

"She's in a holding cell... I'm sure that the commander would allow you to see her if you were to ask him," P'thal replied, hearing the concern in his voice. She also realized that this is the man that Shayera held such strong feelings for, which sparked a curiosity within her.

Finally making their way to conference area, P'thal pointed in the direction of two arched doorways.

"You'll find the commander in there. I'll wait here."

"Thanks."

Lantern walked into the left doorway, proceeded down a small hallway, and saw Kragger sitting down at the end of a large, rectangular metal table in the semi-spacious room, studying readouts from an electronic pad that he held in his right hand.

"Lantern. Welcome. I suppose you're wondering why I've invited you here... hmmm?" Kragger said, never looking up, keeping his attention on the electronic pad, motioning for Lantern to take a seat across from where he sat.

"Yeah... you could say that." Lantern replied, still standing.

"Well... it's really quite simple. Our laws have changed quite a bit in the past five years, and unbeknownst to Lieutenant Hol, her surrender put her in a place that would not allow her to have the ability to defend herself to the Tribunal." Kragger replied.

"What has that got to do with me?" Lantern retorted impatiently.

"It could have everything to do with you. But... that would depend on you, wouldn't it?" Kragger smiled, judging that he was clearly causing the dark-skinned human to get a bit more agitated. He looked up, placing the metal pad to the side, and grinned even more.

"The problem is this, no one here is willing to defend Lieutenant Hol, and without a defense, the High Council will undoubtedly sentence her to ...termination."

John knew that Kragger was enjoying this on the grounds that he made no attempt to hide his pleasure in presenting the chance that Shayera may be killed, and there was absolutely nothing that John could do about it, at least not at the moment.

"Now, there is one other way to provide a defense for her... however it would involve the inventiveness of an off-worlder."

"What do you mean?" Lantern countered.

"Well, the real question would be: 'How are your survival skills?'" Kragger said eagerly.

_What?! _John thought, clearly perplexed.

"I am sure that you would like to check on the lieutenant's condition. Why don't you take a little time so you can think about it. If it's something you want to do, I will give you the details at that time."

"Yeah... I'll do that," Lantern responded.

"Oh and one more thing... I am sure that I have your word that you will not try to escape with the prisoner?"

"You have my word..." John promised glumly.

* * *

P'thal saw Lantern as he stepped out of the doorway, stopped, and then looked up at her, his face filled with bewilderment. Her communicator suddenly flared with vibration. 

"Lieutenant, please escort our guest to the prisoner's cell..."

"Yes, Commander." P'thal replied.

"And Lieutenant..."

"Sir...?"

"Green Lantern has given his word that he will not try to escape with the prisoner. Make sure that he doesn't."

"Yes, sir..."

P'thal led Lantern deeper into the cave's core, moving swiftly through the heavily reinforced structures. They walked in silence as they made their way through the dimly lit corridors toward the holding cells. Lantern was deep in thought wondering what to say to Shayera, and P'thal didn't intrude. They stepped up to a solitary doorway with angled bars covering its entranceway, P'thal reached over to the control panel, and punched in several codes, which started the bars to retract into both sides of the doorway.

"You'll find her down the corridor on the right... I'll wait out here."

"Thanks again."

John walked into the doorway, headed down the corridor, peered into the right doorway, and saw her sitting down within a force field, her back to the entrance. Her shoulders were drooped which made Shayera appear defeated in a way that made his heart wrench with pain.

"Hey..."

Shayera turned her head towards him in shock. "John!! What are you doing here?!"

"I'm here to make sure you're ok. Are you?"

"I'm fine. D-didn't I tell you not to come after me...n-not to waste your time," she cried.

"When it comes to you, I'm never wasting my time. Shayera, you want to tell me why we couldn't have talked about this?"

She stood up and walked over to him, only the thin gleaming wall of light between them.

"John, if we had, you would have eventually talked me out of doing this, and I knew ...that this was something that I had to do. Especially before anyone else could have gotten hurt. I couldn't allow it."

"So, I'm just supposed to forget about you... forget what we've felt for each other?"

"Yes," she said weakly.

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"John, you have to realize that I'm no good for you... no good for anybody... all I'm good for... is deception..."

John walked up to the force field. "That's your guilt talking, Shayera. That's not you... talking at all."

"Guilt... yeah ...that's what I feel. That's all I feel. I can't stop thinking about it. All I can see is the pain that I've caused you... I see it on your face... on everyone's faces."

"Shayera... you're letting it consume you," John said, looking into her eyes with affection.

"Who knows better than you... that it almost consumed me...? If you and the others hadn't have stepped in when you did, I'd be dead... because of it."

"Yes... that's true, ...but the difference is that you were manipulated into believing it," she pointed out. "Me... on the other hand, I did the manipulating. How do you forget something like that?"

"Y-you don't..."

"Well, I know that I couldn't, and if I had stayed, it would have eaten me up on the inside, and things would have gotten worse between us..."

Shayera looked at him nervously for a moment, stared up into the lights of her cell, then closed her eyes.

"It's better this way... You can find someone that will love you... the way you deserve. Someone that you can trust..."

"Trust? Is this what this is about? You think that I don't trust you?!!" John said vehemently, placing both of his gloved hands on the force field causing it to buzz, and fluctuate .

"Baby... I told you that trust could be earned... Don't you know that nothing has changed... that I trust you with my life?"

"It doesn't matter. It's too late now. I'm sorry," Shayera remarked apprehensively, her temper starting to build.

"It's time for me to be held accountable for everything that I've done."

A look of stubbornness came across her face, "You should go, John. There's no future for us... it's over!"

"Wha..."

"GO!! I DON'T WANT YOU HERE!!" she shouted.

"But I don't..."

"John, I don't need you here!! Get OUT!!!" Shayera said, turning her back on him. "I don't want you here. GO!!"

"So, you've given up, huh?" John shook his head. "You're not even willing to accept my help or anyone's for that matter..."

"It doesn't matter! There's nothing you or anyone else can do!! So please leave!!" she stood there fighting back her tears, her back still to him, and her arms folded in defiance.

John stood there for a moment, staring at her, in stunned silence.

"This isn't over," he said quietly.

Lantern slowly turned around, and walked out of the room. He knew what she was doing, and he knew why. He came to a stop when he reached the outside corridor. He had to do something, even if she didn't want him to, time was running out.

P'thal was still standing near the doorway when he walked out of the corridor. She noted the look of distraught on his face, and could tell that their conversation didn't go well. What was Shayera thinking? Did she ask him? P'thal could ask him, but she gave her word that she wouldn't, and she always kept her word.

"I'm sorry..."

"Not your problem... That girl can be so stubborn... she's so determined to sacrifice everything... even us," he muttered absently.

He then looked at P'thal. "Is it true that she can't defend herself at the Tribunal? That they're going to sentence her to death because of it?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so..." she answered sadly.

"No one will stand up for her?"

"No."

"What about you... aren't you her friend?"

"Yes, but I can't... I wasn't there." P'thal replied.

P'thal looked into Lantern's eyes, she could see the desperation starting to swell within them.

"May I ask you something?" she inquired with curiosity.

"Yeah..."

"Forgive me... but, why do you care so much? Did she not betray you, too?"

His gaze soften somewhat, "Yeah... she did..."

"It's complicated..." he smiled weakly, shaking his head.

P'thal could see that he was truly afraid for her, and that he felt exactly the same for Shayera Hol as she did for him. He risked his life just to come here to see her, and even now he wanted nothing more than to break her out of that holding cell, but his honor was preventing him from carrying out the deed. She was beginning to become more impressed with these humans.

"Is it also true that I could possibly do something that would allow her to be represented at the Tribunal?" John asked, changing the subject.

_What? _P'thal pondered. She promised Shayera that she wouldn't ask him, but this was different. Wasn't it? Did Shayera mention it to him after all? Was he willing to do it?

"Um...yes, there is..."

"What exactly would I have to do?" John asked, open to anything at this point.

"You would have to participate in the T'jinn Jakat..."

"T'jinn Jakat?"

"Yes, it is what is known as our rite of Ascension, which is how our culture recognizes the transition from childhood to adulthood, and is used to validate the strong from the weak."

"Ok, how does this pertain to me?"

"Well, our law states that any person that commits a treasonous act and there is evidence to support it, the accused will have no voice at their Judgement and the sentence is automatic. However, if there is an honorable Thanagarian citizen that had witnessed the act and is willing to speak on the behalf of the accused, then the citizen is permitted to speak to the High Council."

"Ok?"

"Well, the High Council will not recognize anyone who has never proven their worth without completing the T'jinn Jakat, however if this same person were to successfully complete this task, then he would be considered as an honorable Thanagarian citizen."

"Let me get this straight... if I complete this 'Jakat' thing, I would be regarded as a Thanagarian citizen? How can that be, considering that I'm not from Thanagar?" John asked, still confused.

"Citizenship on Thanagar is not based on whether you are born there, it is based more on your worthiness ...your courage."

"However, let me finish before you decide to do this." P'thal added.

"The T'jinn Jakat immerses into the use of one's strength, intellect, and will. You would have to battle to the death one of the deadliest creatures ever known to my people, and you would have to do this without your power ring."

"I knew there was a catch..."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

"Are you going to tell her?" asked P'thal.

"No... she has enough to deal with... I'll tell her when I get back," Lantern answered calmly, keeping pace with the thanagarian officer, as they strode through the obscured corridors, heading for the hangar.

P'thal had observed how the Talon soldiers they passed were looking in their direction with unadulterated skepticism. Green Lantern was dressed in the Thanagarian ceremonial armor, which indicated that he was to attempt the T'jinn Jakat, and they were clearly unreceptive to the changes he had made to the gear, thanks to his power ring. Who was he to make such changes were undoubtedly going through their minds, she perceived.

Lantern, an ex-marine, had made his choices from a variety of available armor and accessories for reasons they most likely wouldn't have understood. Such as the dark elastic body suit that he had worn, was made from an unknown material that cohered to his skin comfortably without cutting off his circulation, similar to his own Lantern uniform. The chest armor was originally bright gold in color, which covered his upper extremities along with his back and shoulders, was now altered to the dark colors of the forest, very similar to his old marine uniform. Even the helmet which basically hid his features, the gauntlets for his hands, and his boots, all camouflaged as well, granted him buoyancy, in which not only provided the maximum protection, but at the same time giving him maximum balance.

However, what they couldn't begin to fathom was the harness that he'd created, crisscrossed in the front, across his chest, beneath his chest armor, where two daggers were slid into hidden sheathes underneath both of his arms near his waist. On the backside of the harness was the sword and scabbard melded onto it as if they were made as one. What they couldn't see was how this human basically carried a small arsenal of weapons out in plain sight.

P'thal, on the other hand, was impressed by his choice of armor. Considering that he had no previous affiliation with any of their equipment before, everything he chose to equip himself with provided the essential protection, however the gear also allowed for speed and evasiveness.

"John, don't you think that she deserves to know what you're about to do for her?" P'thal asked, practically pleading now.

"Look, Pilar. I know Shayera... she's just gonna make herself believe that she's responsible for this, and right now she has enough on her mind. This is my call. She asked me to leave therefore I left. That's all she needs to know, ok?"

"All right..." P'thal said with little enthusiasm. One of things she discovered about John Stewart within the short period of time she had known him, was that he was just as stubborn as Shayera. They were definitely cut from the same piece of cloth, it seems, even if they were from opposite sides of the galaxy. Since there was no convincing him, she could at least see if the human was prepared for what he would encounter.

"Tell me about your opponent... you **did** study the brief I left for you, right?"

"The H'rukai... cold-blooded, reptilian in nature... heavily muscled, razor sharp teeth, claws on its appendages except for the tail... and heightened olfactory senses."

Lantern had spent several hours preparing himself for the ceremonial ritual, understanding that he was Shayera's only hope of providing a way to speak to her people on her behalf. He didn't hesitate when P'thal told him what he had to do. He agreed to fight for her, to hopefully regain her freedom. If this would cost him his life, John couldn't think of a better reason other than to fight for the woman that he loved.

"I see that you did... remember, do not underestimate the H'rukai... it is **deadly**... cunningly deadly. Many of my people have perished attempting the T'jinn Jakat... do not take it lightly," she warned.

"I won't. Besides, I know that there's a lot more at stake here other than my hide. For Shayera to live, means that I have to survive," he reassured her.

They entered into the hangar where two shuttles were parked, however, both aircraft were prepped, and ready for departure as they approached the gangplank.

"The Tribunal will convene in forty-eight hours... that will give you twenty-four to complete the T'jinn Jakat..." P'thal stated, pointing to the shuttle that was prepared for him.

"Understood..." John said, stepping onto the shuttle's access way, turned to face her, extending his left hand out. "I'll expect you to hand this back to me... when I return."

"Of course..." she answered, realizing it was his power ring that he had placed into her palm.

"Good luck to you... John Stewart." P'thal said, as the shuttle lifted off heading for its destination.

* * *

Shayera sat in her cell, her legs drawn up to her chest, as she thought about the harsh things she had said to John before he had walked out. She had known all along that he would come after her, regardless to what she'd had asked him not to do. She hated that her last words were for him to leave; when in her heart she wanted nothing more than to hold him close and never let go. Shayera also knew that he would never give up, because she wouldn't, if the situation was reversed. She loved him so much; it was the most arduous thing that she ever had to do, to watch him walk out of her life forever. Then it hit her, she was to be executed... but, before that, she would be alone, unable to say goodbye to the ones she loved the most.

"Isn't it funny how you would never think of the things that you think of... until you know that you are about to die?" Kragger said snidely.

Shayera looked up. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to see that all of your regrets have been slipping in and out of your mind..."

"What do **you** want?"

"Oh... just to let you know that the Tribunal will meet in forty-eight hours. Too bad you won't be allowed to share your views to the High Council... not that they would listen anyway." Kragger smirked.

"Why do you get so much pleasure in tormenting me? Why do you hate me so much?" Shayera asked flustered with his attitude.

"Do you really want to know, Lieutenant?"

"Yeah! You've been giving me grief ever since I've met you," Shayera shot back.

"You!! Lieutenant Hol... caused our mission to fail! **Millions** of Thanagarians will die, because you could not carry out your duty!!" Kragger snapped angrily.

"It is also your fault for what your friends from the Justice League did to me...!!"

"What? What are you talking about?!!"

"Your friend ... the telepath... he ripped into my mind, destroyed my mental defenses and took whatever information he could get from me. Then he tossed me aside like garbage... left me laying in the coldness of the night... my mind draining from me!"

"Do you know how that feels?! It took me two days to pull myself together... to keep from losing myself over the abyss of insanity! I did it by keeping one thought in my mind, that one day... **you** would pay for your treachery!"

"I'm sorry... I didn't know, but you're right, I will pay."

"Oh no... not like that... no... not like that... you're going to suffer first... I promise... you, like I suffered."

"How else can I suffer, Kragger? I've lost everything and I'm going to be executed," she reasoned. "There is nothing else..."

Kragger started to smile. A grotesquely, twisted smile. "Oh Lieutenant... you are wrong... I **guarantee** that you are going to suffer within the next few hours."

He pointed to the far wall, and then fervently pushed a button on a control pad that he held in his right hand. A large view-screen appeared, and displayed a man dressed in dark thanagarian armor, ceremonial armor, a sword was strapped to his back, and he was dropping out of a shuttle's access way, into a heavily wooded valley below. The camera's lenses stayed fixed on the man... a man with no wings. She saw him land onto his feet with the grace of a cat and stood up to look around the area that he had just descended upon. Then the man started to walk... she recognized that walk. Shayera felt as if her heart literally skipped a beat. _**JOHN!! NO!!** _she screamed in her mind.

Kragger saw the realization on her face.

"Yes... As you can see, Green Lantern has apparently agreed to partake in the T'jinn Jakat..." he snickered.

"**NO!!** He couldn't have... I never told him..." Shayera interjected.

"Who told him...?!!"

The scene on the view-screen changed to P'thal talking to John Stewart. Shayera could hear the questions that he asked P'thal regarding what he could do to talk to the High Council...

_Pilar... you promised me... you promised me...!!_

Kragger waited a moment, searching her face for some emotional response, for her mind to wrap around the issue that P'thal may have broken her word and informed the human of the opportunity to help her hopeless cause.

"Oh... Lieutenant P'thal didn't tell him..." Kragger said, feigning meekness, making sure that he would get all the credit.

Shayera looked at him for a moment, then back at the view screen. "You told him..."

"Of course... **I did**!!"

Kragger stood directly in front of her, blocking the screen. He started to laugh, "I planted the thought, and the fool accepted the challenge, even after all of the things that you had done to him, he still wants to save you! He is the most gullible human that I have ever seen!!! I can see why you chose to exercise your deception upon him!!"

Shayera sprang to her feet, lunged in Kragger's direction, and struck the force field as hard as she could, causing it to explode with a wide flash of sparks. The force of her blow caused Kragger to stagger backward.

"If anything... happens to him... I will **kill** you..." she growled.

"No... Lieutenant Hol, you are gravely mistaken. First of all, you will suffer by watching him die... knowing that he gave his life for your **worthless** honor, and then you will have no choice... **NO CHOICE**... but to accept the verdict of death... a death that you so profoundly deserve."

"You talk big with this force field between us... why don't you let it down and let's see whose about to **die**..." Shayera challenged, her teeth clinched from her anger.

"Enjoy the show..." Kragger smiled, turning, and pointing to the view screen, his laughter loud and haunting, as he left her standing alone, watching the view screen change to a grid-lined topographical map with two icons, one red and one blue, vertically across from each other on opposite ends the screen, which started blinking simultaneously.

"John..." she whispered, as she slumped to the floor, her face in her hands, feeling the tears well up into her eyes.

* * *

The air was damp and listless on the heavily wooded valley floor, as the sun began to rise lazily to peek over the eastern edge of the valley's sheer mountainous walls, which caused its rays to sparkle off the dew filled crevices that were exposed to its early light.

It took Lantern several hours to do a quick reconnaissance of the area, and selected two distinct spots that he quickly 'prepared', and then designated one as the 'yellow zone', which he judged to be the most likely path that he could use to set off delay traps in case he needed a quick get-away. The other was the 'red zone', about seventy-five meters southwest from the 'yellow zone', which in itself would be his last resort, however killing the H'rukai was not part of his overall plan, unless it absolutely didn't leave him a choice. His thought was to try to capture it first, which should probably be sufficient enough to pass this T'jinn Jakat.

The brief scarcely described the H'rukai as one that hunted for its food by its strong sense of smell, and would only eat fresh kills, which meant that it was carnivorous by nature. The hiccup to all of this is that he somehow had to figure out its weaknesses, and how to exploit them, but how can that be accomplished without seeing how the creature behaved? He also had to determine the creature's intelligence, and the only way to do that was to somehow test it. Hence, the reason for the traps. His days in the jungle with the marines resurfaced to his mind when his fire team had to set up booby traps along the trail to delay the enemy's advance. _Same concept..._ he realized, finishing his task.

Lantern noticed that the sunlight was glinting off of his armor, and came to the conclusion that he needed to do something to dull its brightness. From his earlier recon, he saw a waterfall, which was northwest of his present position. That would be his next stop... he decided.

* * *

The Talon soldier's features were eerily bright by the glow of the view screen he was monitoring.

"The human is starting to head for the western quadrant...Lieutenant," he reported.

P'thal walked over to the young soldier's station, and peered over his shoulder. She had noted earlier that the red icon that displayed John Stewart's position had stayed in the southern quadrant for an extremely long time, and was relieved to see it starting to 'blip' toward the left center of the composite topographical map in which the view screen displayed.

"It looks like he is heading toward the waterfall... sir."

"Yes, it does..." she agreed. _What are you up to, John?_

"What is the position of the H'rukai?"

"Northeast, about two point four kilometers from the human's last known position..."

_Good... it hasn't caught his scent yet_, she thought.

"Keep me informed if anything changes..." she requested, leaving the Command Center, deciding that it was time to see how Shayera was holding up.

"Yes, sir..." the soldier replied.

* * *

When he reached the waterfall, its mist was everywhere, making any ocular perception impossible. Lantern looked around warily, knowing that this was a prime spot for an ambush. Keeping to the shadows, he spied for any movement, any noise that could possibly give away the position of the H'rukai. He saw and heard nothing, as he slowly made his way to the water's edge.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lantern found what he was looking for, and cautiously moved closer to the waterfall. The pounding of the water hitting the rocks also made it inaudible to hear anything if the creature was around. Lantern felt he would take the chance.

* * *

P'thal walked into the cellblock to find Shayera staring at the far wall left of where she was imprisoned. She stopped next to the force field wondering what had snared her friend's attention.

"John's the red one, isn't he?" Shayera asked, quietly. "And the blue is the H'rukai?"

P'thal looked up at the view screen with amazement, it was displaying the exact same data that they were monitoring in the Command Center.

"How did you know?"

"Kragger told me..." she stopped and looked at P'thal. "At first, I thought you told John about the T'jinn Jakat... but it was Kragger. It makes sense now."

"What do you mean?"

"Kragger set this whole thing up... he wants me to watch John die... wants me to suffer before I pay for what I did..."

"Shayera, what are you talking about? Kragger didn't know anything about the T'jinn..."

"Kragger planted a vidcam on you, saw our conversation from earlier... the same way he acquired the evidence that will be used to convict me..." Shayera said nonchalantly.

"What...?"

"He used the T'jinn Jakat to lure John here, and used you to spring the trap... and now he's out there alone, without his ring, facing a terror that no human has ever encountered before..." Shayera said, almost to herself, closing her eyes.

"Lieutenant..." P'thal's communicator cried out.

"Go ahead..."

"Sir, there seems to be a problem with the H'rukai's signal..."

P'thal peered up at the view screen, "What is it? I don't see anything..."

Shayera's eyes concentrated on the movement of the blue icon, which was flashing slowly almost freezing on the far right side of the screen, its signal appeared to be erratic, as if the tracking system was confused with the H'rukai's position, then all of a sudden the blue icon 'blipped' on the left side of the screen, closer to the red icon's position.

"Oh no..." she whispered in fear.

* * *

Lantern had finally reached his objective; just off the water's edge was a bank of thick, claylike mud. The substance was moist enough to apply a good coating that would satisfy his need to dull the glint from his armor. He reached down with his right hand to get a glob full of mud when something registered out of the corner of his eye as slight movement, off to his left, about twenty meters back, near the trees. Lantern stood very still, trying to blend with the rest of the foliage, until he saw it, three red eyes, set almost in a triangular pattern, just on the edge of the trees, staring in his direction as if trying to focus on his position.

_Uh oh... no sudden movements, John... _he thought with apprehension.

The creature hissed loudly as it bolted from the trees with no warning, faster than Lantern had anticipated, which didn't leave him much time to react as it rushed upon him. The creature leapt, landing in front of him, swinging its massive claw downward and across.

* * *

"Command... report!!" P'thal ordered.

"Sir... we believe that the human was attacked..."

P'thal watched in horror as the red icon that represented John Stewart disappeared off of the view screen, where only the blue icon remained.

"NO!!!" Shayera screamed.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

It had the resemblance of something straight out of the Cretaceous period, almost two meters in height, its eyes, three glowing red orbs, were triangularly placed, one, right above the bridge of its muzzle, and two, on either side of its cylindrically shaped head. The rows of sharp teeth that protruded from its reptilian mouth, just before its gullet, spread apart menacingly, as it bellowed a high, piercing cry, swinging its scaly, muscled limb downward and across at the seemingly motionless Green Lantern.

Lantern dove into a low crouch, his right leg extended outward, lunging himself as low to the ground as possible, as the alien lashed out violently, just above his head, hitting nothing but air. Swinging back roughly, the creature caught Lantern square across his chest, sending his six foot one frame sprawling into the air, landing onto his back, sliding nine meters into the muddied embankment.

Stunned slightly, and engulfed by the oozing sludge from head to toe, Lantern became aware that his armor had absorbed the brunt of the blow, and scrambled to his feet quickly, keeping his posture loose, standing in readiness for the creature he knew to be the H'rukai, both of his daggers drawn.

The H'rukai bounded into the mud, heading straight for its human prey, disregarding the slipperiness of the surface, its jaws agape. Lantern waited composedly, as the monster vaulted itself towards him awkwardly, exhaling a blast of its hot breath from its snapping jaws within just a few centimeters of his face. Bending low, he side-stepped to his right with his left foot, jutting his left arm horizontally outward, his dagger, blade-side out from underneath his left palm, thumb over the hilt, as it sliced deeply through the H'rukai's left side, all the while spinning away from the monster's advance, and followed suit by pirouetting into a full circle, swinging his right arm slightly upward with the dagger held in his right hand, blade-side up above his thumb, this time, slashing deeply across the creature's exposed neck.

Howling in pain, the H'rukai fell face first into the mud, sliding a few meters further into the embankment, clutching its neck and side, realizing that its hide had been penetrated.

It roared its anger as it jumped back to its feet, charging into Lantern's direction once again. Its clawed hands thrashed wildly as Lantern evaded the attack by consistently blocking the creature's onslaught with his gauntlets, each time retaliating with his daggers, dishing out a little punishment of his own, infuriating the alien creature further.

Clearly frustrated with this ploy, the alien reptile began to chomp ferociously at Lantern's helmeted head, causing the human to stumble backwards. Taking advantage of this slight opening, the H'rukai swiftly whipped its body around; its tail extended, and hammered Lantern into his mid-section, catapulting the human fifteen meters into the air. Landing with a grotesque thud into the bright sunshine of a grassy knoll, Lantern winced as his left shoulder hit the hardened earth, feeling the searing pain, and relinquishing his daggers from the impact.

Feeling the veil of unconsciousness creeping upon him, Lantern rolled onto his side, seeing the H'rukai slowly trudging towards him, its blood flowing moderately from its wounds.

_NO!! Don't blackout!!_

Willing himself to stay conscious, Lantern stood up slowly, as the H'rukai impetuously dashed toward him, its arms outstretched, leaping for his throat.

Still groggy, Lantern shifted the scabbard diagonally onto his back, then thrust his hands outward to impede the path of the creature's imposing claws, throwing himself backwards toward the ground, rolling onto his back, using his legs and the momentum of its weight to propel the creature three meters airborne, crashing it into a row of shadowed trees.

* * *

"Pilar!! You gotta let me outta here!!!" 

"You know that that is not possible… Shayera! John knew the risks when he agreed to do this…" P'thal said sadly.

"I can help him!!"

"If I let you out… it will ruin any chance you may have to stay your sentence at the Tribunal… Think!! What if he succeeds?!!"

"UUUUUUAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Shayera shrieked her frustration, slamming her elbow against the unyielding force field, showering herself in sparks, while realizing that P'thal was right.

"Get that shuttle over to that position and tell me what has happened!" P'thal ordered sharply into the communicator.

"Right away, sir!" a voice answered.

* * *

Man and beast, outside of the embankment now, completely covered in mud, stood measuring each other in the tall grass, within four meters of each other, both beginning to reveal their fatigue, exhausted from the fierce fighting between them. The H'rukai, panting heavily now, its blood still seeping slowly due to the two gaping wounds it had received during the battle, stood erect, near the edge of the heavily shadowed trees, ready to persist with its attack. 

Then, something caught Lantern's eye, movement, within the darkness of the trees, just behind the alien. Squinting, his eyes watered, as he tried to confirm what he had seen through the bright, shining rays of the early morning sun.

Without warning, a large figure sprang out of the shadowed darkness, barreling into the H'rukai, slamming it down into the tall grass, gripping its neck with what appeared to be its mouth, raising its body into the air, writhing it furiously, until Lantern heard a loud snap. The H'rukai's body fell limp within its attacker's jaws, its blood flowing freely from its neck.

Then, Lantern could see what had killed the creature, as it dropped the alien's body into the tall grass; it was something he wasn't prepared for.

_God…_

_

* * *

_

"Lieutenant?"

"Yes, Corporal?" P'thal answered patiently, eyeing the communicator.

"Sir, the signal for the H'rukai… there something very wrong about it… it's almost like…"

"Like what…?!!" Shayera interrupted impatiently, staring at the blue icon, as it continued to blink erratically on the view screen.

"Like… there were two signals… transmitting on the same frequency…"

"What?!" P'thal stammered.

_Two signals… transmitting… same frequency…_ Shayera's mind raced, deliberating the new information, then a dark feeling crossed into her mentality. _Kragger!!_

"Pilar! T-there are two of them… there are two H'rukai out there…!!" she rationalized, staring at the blue icon's erratic signal.

* * *

He stood perfectly still as the creature shoved the H'rukai's body with its snout, looking for any signs of life. Sensing that it was dead, it shifted itself into the direction of Green Lantern, its bloodied, toothy maw, coming to a stop not more than five meters of his position. Sniffing at the air slowly, the larger H'rukai, about four meters in height, bent low to the ground, sticking out its snake-like tongue to the earth as if searching for something, and lifted its snout to the air once more, inhaling sharply. It acted as if Lantern was literally invisible, heedless to the fact that he was standing practically in front of it. 

_What's the matter, boy… can't find my scent?_ Lantern mused, as he spied the location of one of his desolated daggers, which was about two meters off to the left behind him. Then he noticed that something was different, it didn't rush in to attack, like the one before. It, instead, stood upon its legs, and stretched its head to its full height, again sniffing the air harshly.

_What the… it can't see me?!! _Lantern thought, astonished by this discovery, looking down at his arms and legs…. _Heightened olfactory senses…_

_The mud… must be blocking my scent… but why can't it see me?_

He realized that he was indeed still covered in the semi-dried ooze, however it was covered with something else as well. Blood. H'rukai blood. The elephantine monster smelled it as well, and bellowed its challenge, charging its bulk towards Lantern's direction.

Lantern quickly turned, retrieved the dagger, and bolted through the trees, heading southwest, the alien beast in close pursuit.

* * *

The Thanagarian shuttle silently hovered over the last recorded coordinates of the human, the blowing mist from the waterfall dissipating briefly as its retro engines hummed steadily, its camera emerging slowly from one of its access ports. 

"Are you getting this, Lieutenant?" the Talon soldier asked.

"Yes, I am… Sergeant." P'thal's voice radioed back.

* * *

"I don't see him…" Shayera voiced with a hint of optimism, staring intently at the view screen, as the shuttle's camera methodically panned the surrounding area. 

"Wait a minute… Sergeant, can you pan back to the upper left quadrant… there, what is that?"

"Where?" P'thal questioned, looking as well.

"There… near the trees… is that blood?"

The camera zoomed in, displaying the tall grass near a heavily wooded area, the focus changing speedily, until it became clearer, revealing the crumpled body of the lifeless H'rukai, its neck clearly broken.

Panic was starting to set in the back of her mind as Shayera's heart pounded faster, hoping for some sign that John had survived. _John… where are you?_

Black Talon soldiers, heavily armed, were in the perimeter now, searching for whatever was left in the apparent battle zone, walking slowly up to the dead animal, for a closer look.

"Lieutenant… there is nothing here… only this dead H'rukai… it's a beta male, by the looks of it. Most likely killed by an alpha. However, there's no sign of the human…" the communicator squawked.

"There are indications that some fighting went on here, though… there's mud everywhere," another voice said.

"He's alive…" Shayera breathed out heavily, realizing how resourceful John could be.

"We don't know that… Shayera." P'thal looked at her, not convinced.

Only a few had ever survived against the attack of two H'rukai males, and they were very experienced warriors, but with John Stewart's nescience with the creatures, she believed that it was unlikely that he could have.

"Over here!" someone shouted, off to the left.

The camera panned towards the commotion, a young Talon soldier pointing off to a section of trees on the opposite side of the small clearing.

"Lieutenant… you're not going to believe this, but this human may still be alive…" the voice responded with disbelief.

"What do you mean?" P'thal requested, with amazement.

"We found this…" the soldier reported, as the camera zoomed in on the ceremonial dagger he was holding.

"There are tracks that are moving away… from this position… to the southwest," the soldier reputed, pointing to the left. "And that isn't all…"

"What else?"

"By the looks of things, the alpha is definitely on his heels," the communicator squawked.

* * *

Lantern ran as fast as he could, his lean form slicing through the foliage of the forest, pacing himself as if he were in some long marathon. He could hear the H'rukai keeping pace, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why it couldn't see him, but the scent from the previous H'rukai's blood had caused the beast to come after him with savage tenacity. 

_Stay to the southwest… Stewart… should be getting close now…_ he judged, quickly looking into the sky, then at the landmarks he was passing, never looking back. He knew he couldn't chance a look back to verify the creature's position, because if he were to lose his footing, there would be no way that he could survive fighting this thing in close proximity. No. He needed to focus on the path in front of him, and reach the 'yellow' zone.

Lantern sprinted past a large tree that had a distinctive 'YZ' carved into it, pulling his dagger out with his right hand, he focused on a taut, intertwined vine secured by an old log that was to his right, extended his stride, and sliced it with an outstretched swing of his arm while passing by in one swift motion.

The H'rukai, five steps behind him, could not evade the flexibly, tightly stretched tree branch, consisting of six thick wooden stakes, almost thirty centimeters in length that whipped around into its path, into its right forearm, and the right side of its chest, tearing into its scaly flesh.

Its horrible scream resounded throughout the valley floor.

* * *

The contingent of Black Talon soldiers stopped in their tracks, after hearing the ragged outcry, as they followed the crude pathway left from the evident hunt that was currently going on. 

"Wings of Ratok!! That did not sound good at all…" an alarmed Talon soldier said, looking up realizing that the sound came at least a kilometer ahead of them, his weapon raised.

"What is it… Corporal?" the communicator squawked.

"Not sure… sir. It sounded like the H'rukai may have caught his prey…" the corporal radioed back.

"What do you think?" another soldier whispered, walking up along side the corporal.

"I don't know… "

"Do they expect us to rescue this human?"

"Perhaps…"

"He deserves to die… if he thinks he can accomplish what a true Thanagarian was born to do…" the soldier commented.

"Don't let P'thal hear you say that, she seems to feel that this 'Green Lantern' deserves a chance to speak for the traitor at the Tribunal."

"Come on, Karos… there's no way that this human will survive, the traitor is as good as dead…"

"Whatever the case… keep your eyes open…" Corporal Karos warned.

* * *

The fear was definitely deep within her now, as Shayera watched the view screen, uneasily. The camera displayed the tree tops as the shuttle had to hover above the forest, because the trail was too heavily wooded. 

"Are you alright?" P'thal asked.

"Yeah… I just hope that he's ok…" Shayera sighed nervously, her body, visibly shaking.

P'thal observed the concerned look on Shayera's face. She wished that she could do more for her friend, but this was not up to her, like it ever was to begin with. No, only John Stewart would be the only one to do anything about it, the only one that would make the difference.

* * *

Lantern had two traps remaining in the 'yellow' zone, however, he never released them on account of the H'rukai's painful shriek from the first one, it had discontinued its pursuit of him, but, nonetheless, he kept running, heading for the 'red' zone. For the creature to cease its chase indicated that it had some form of intelligence, because for some unfathomable reason, he could not shake the feeling that it was nevertheless hunting him. Which meant that this H'rukai would not leave him any choice, it was either it or Shayera, and to Lantern, this was a very easy choice to make. 

_Less than a quarter mile, Stewart… run!!_

Picking up the pace, he began to extend his stride further.

A few moments later, Lantern slowed, then eventually stopped, as he came to a large clearing, its terrain sloping downward slightly, towards huge clumps of bushes that lined the far edge of it, and appeared to have grown abundantly at one particular spot, with two huge oak trees widely adjacent to each other, one above the bushes. This was where Lantern decided to make his stand; the 'RED' zone, here was where he would have to survive. Looking around cautiously, he didn't see or hear anything that suggested the creature was in the area. He knew it was out there, lurking, possibly trying to snare him as it did the previous H'rukai, but it could only approach him from one of three sides of the clearing, he had made sure of it.

Lantern scaled the large oak tree on the left side of the far edge that gave him a vantage point of the whole area, in which nothing could enter without him knowing about it. Gazing at the morning sky, he knew that time was starting to run out, and that he needed to get this accomplished quickly, for the Tribunal was to begin the very next day.

It was time to take the fight to this larger creature; it was time to finish it. Looking over the perimeter, he again saw no indication that his opponent was near; therefore he decided to give it a little help. He took in a deep breath.

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

The scent was intangibly cognizant, but the remnants of its prey's odor still lingered, as the H'rukai alpha inhaled the morning air into its nostrils slowly, ambling cautiously through the heavily vegetated valley floor. Its senses knew it to be just another male like itself, attempting to challenge its station as an alpha, but somehow, it was also different. For some reason it couldn't see it with its eyes, but it could definitely smell it, faintly, but smelled it nevertheless. One thing did make it clear to its instincts; staying close to the strange creature had proven to be a bit more dangerous than it had anticipated, as it spied the tattered flesh of its right forearm.

The attack itself had baffled it; in which the reasoning within its primitive mind suggested that it would be beneficial for it to track its quarry from a distance, biding its time, so that it would have a better opportunity to strike again. For it knew that with preferable conditions, it would eventually hunt this creature down, and once it had, it would indeed kill it.

The sudden boisterousness of the bellow erupted through the calmness of the forest, causing the H'rukai to look in the direction where flocks of birds were exploding out of the trees some distance west from where it stood. It discerned that the bawl was something more than just a mere noise in the woods. No… it was definitely something more. Recognizing the challenge, it grunted with a sound of vaingloriousness, and loped off westward, toward the source of the inimical calling.

* * *

"What do you think it was?" squawked the corporal's communicator.

"Not sure, sir… whatever it was, it wasn't the H'rukai," the corporal answered, motioning the rest of the group to turn into the direction of where the deep-toned din originated.

"We'll check it out…"

* * *

At least twenty minutes had elapsed since he issued his challenge into the surrounding forest, during which the sun had slipped within a canvas of ominous clouds, its bright rays disappearing quickly behind them. Lantern utilized this time to focus on the behavior of the two animals he had faced earlier, distinguishing their subtle differences, as well as their similarities. The first H'rukai was smaller, and acted more impulsively, rushing into its attack, jumping the gun so to speak, which suggested that the animal may have been young, while the other, much larger, took its time to size up the situation, weighing its options, and then attacked. More experienced… older, perhaps? It hid in the shadows, and most likely studied its prey… Looking for weaknesses?

_Pilar had said that they were cunningly deadly… so the real question is… just how cunning can these things be?_

Studying the leaves on the oak's branches, Lantern noted that the breeze was blowing slightly to the northeast, realizing that it was possible for the creature to pick up the scent of the now dried H'rukai blood on his armor… even with this slight gust of wind.

A sound… registered from across the clearing… to its far side, on the left. Staring intently from his vantage point, Lantern spotted what had made the noise… creeping slowly through the trees were a group of armed Talon soldiers, approaching the edge of the open field.

_This ain't good… what are they doing here?_

Deciding that he didn't want interference, Lantern concluded that he would most likely have to 'talk' with the uninvited guests, before they unknowingly foil the plan that he'd already set in motion. Starting his descent slowly, and looking downward, he froze abruptly. He stared at the ground for a moment. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? It looked like something was beneath one of the branches of the giant oak. Movement. Slow, calculating movement…

It was the H'rukai. From its head to the end of its tail, it was at least six meters in length, moving fluidly from within its crouch, purposefully, inherently… for it was hunting. It slowly came to a stop, standing perfectly still, blending in with its surroundings, beneath one of the largest branches of the giant oak. It gazed across the open field, its eyes, practically level with the tall grass, waiting patiently. It undoubtedly heard the noise, as well; for its muzzle was pointed in the general direction of the winged soldiers, its teeth parted slightly, as it prepared to launch its attack.

_Uh oh…_

Lantern could see that this would complicate things, considering the fact that one, if the Thanagarians were to interfere, it may somehow cause the Tribunal to revoke his claim in this opportunity to complete the ritual, and two, the soldiers were in no doubt, about to be ambushed by the very beast they had set out to kill him. No matter how ironic it would seem; he had to make sure that neither would happen.

* * *

"Lieutenant… there's nothing here that indicates that the human is even here," the corporal whispered to the communicator, noting the faint drizzle of rain starting to fall from the semi-darkened sky.

"He could be dead for all we know…" another soldier whispered.

"The shuttle will be over to your position in a few minutes, there's still trouble with the tracking system… so it is very difficult to ascertain the location of the remaining H'rukai… be careful…" crackled the communicator.

"Will do, Lieutenant…" Corporal Karos responded. "Karos out…"

The soldiers were beginning to get impatient with this whole mission. None of them felt that the human needed to be saved from a fate that he deserved, and on top of all of that, it was beginning to rain.

"Pan out! Let's do a standard three by two cover… and keep your eyes open!" Karos quietly ordered.

The Talon soldiers silently spread out to about three meters between each other, and began to walk slowly into the clearing.

* * *

"Not… yet…" Lantern whispered to himself, working into a position directly above the crouching H'rukai, his dagger held tightly between clinched teeth, measuring the distance to the beast. He had to time this just right or the element of surprise would be lost, and he couldn't afford that.

The alien monster launched itself into the clearing, not aware of the dark figure plunging quickly from the branches above, landing upon its back. Lantern's right arm shot upward, grabbing the dagger out of his mouth, and swung downward, driving the blade deep into the creature's upper right shoulder. Bucking wildly, the H'rukai sprang into the clearing, screeching in agony, all the while reaching for the human that was clamped onto its back.

"**Karos!! Look!!**" a soldier shouted, pointing to the other side of the clearing.

The stunned soldiers stood dumbfounded as the creature rolled forward towards a grassy mound, trying to crush its pesky intruder. Lantern jumped off the reptile's back and rolled back onto his feet, almost three meters from the creature, reaching onto his back, pulling the sword from its scabbard.

"**Stay out of this!!! This is my fight!!**" he shouted to the astonished group of Thanagar's finest, facing the monster now.

* * *

The Thanagarian shuttle slowly hovered closer to the clearing, its camera displaying the group of winged Thanagarians to the right, and the two combatants facing each other in the middle of the open field.

* * *

"**Ch'tera's beak!** You were right, Shayera! He survived… John Stewart is alive…" P'thal said optimistically, smiling briskly, spotting the human on the view screen.

As the shuttle's camera zoomed in on the combatants, she saw him standing there, defensively, opposite the H'rukai alpha, his sword held vertically in front of him, both hands on the hilt.

He was **alive!** Her breathing became rapid, as she mentally reminded herself that this was not the time for fear; that this was the time for faith, and for hope, however, all Shayera could produce was a halfhearted smile, because she knew that this was far from over. She closed her eyes, not able to watch, for she was afraid for his safety, but she knew that deep in her heart that not even fear could shake the feeling that she had held onto for the past two of the five years, stranded on this little planet. She had believed in him, and he believed in her, for he'd already proven that.

Now, others from her world would see why she did what she did, why she was willing to give up her life for the people of Earth. They would see a mere human risking his life for hers, to speak for her when she couldn't, to battle without the one power that would protect him from such odds. She had never felt more proud of what she'd felt, proud enough to tell anyone, and everyone that she was in love with the human named John Stewart.

_Be careful…_ she thought, opening her eyes, staring at the view screen, still trembling, wishing that she were standing next to him.

* * *

The H'rukai roared with vexation as it reached up with its left claw, ripping the dagger from its right shoulder, sending it flying off towards the bushes near the far back edge of the clearing, staring hatefully in the direction of the one responsible. Again, it sniffed at the air harshly, again unable to locate its enemy.

The drizzling rain became a sudden downpour, falling rapidly, hitting the clearing with sheets of wet liquid immersing the area with its moisture. Lantern focusing on the creature ignored the rainfall that was hitting his armor, saturating the dried layers of mud, causing the ooze to quickly wash away. Then as quickly as it had begun, the shower of droplets had stopped, as if some huge spigot was quickly turned off to interrupt its flow.

The H'rukai glared in the general direction of the human, shifting its head, and then clamored with anger as it pounced to Lantern's left, causing him to jump to his right, only to step into its extended tail that it swung around, clubbing him across his stomach, knocking the wind out of him, flipping him over its tail, falling to the ground. The creature quickly brought its tail up and powerfully launched it downward toward the fallen human. On his back, Lantern rolled onto his left side, as the tail slammed onto the wet earth, shaking the ground beneath him. The reptile propelled itself forward, its jaws snapping with engrossed fury, as it reached for the human's lower body. Lantern rolled to his right this time, avoiding the attack, and jumped to his feet, sword in hand.

The H'rukai jumped in front of him, swinging its clawed hands at Lantern's head. Lantern countered by bringing the sword up, obstructing the creature's claws with two side to side parries, followed by an outward thrust with the weapon, driving the creature back a step.

The H'rukai sidestepped forward with its left foot, and its tail suddenly swooped in from the right, attempting to strike Lantern from behind. Lantern quickly brought his armored hands up above his head, swinging the sword blade downward, preventing the tail from ever making contact with his back, the creature's tail nicked by the sharp blade. Then swung the sword in a high arc toward the creature's chest, thrusting the blade outward, again driving it backwards.

_Crap!! It can **see** me!! _Lantern realized.

The H'rukai again came forward, its teeth biting savagely at his face, missing within centimeters, as Lantern turned away to the right, which took him into the opposite direction. The creature turned to its left, and lashed forcefully upward with its right claw, catching Lantern's left shoulder from behind, slicing deeply into his armor, leaving a wide gap within it, and shearing the flesh just underneath it, sending Lantern grasping several meters into the air.

"**AAARRRGGGG!!!!**" Lantern screamed, slamming into the ground with a roll, landing back onto his feet. The pain was intense, as he weakly maintained his balance, assessing his position within the clearing.

* * *

The Talon soldiers stood in awe to what they were witnessing. No one ever fought an H'rukai alpha toe-to-toe and survived.

"I'm ending this…" a soldier scoffed rigidly, raising his weapon, taking aim at the H'rukai's head.

"**NO!**" Karos voiced quietly, placing a hand on the muzzle of the soldier's weapon, pushing it down gently.

"Why not, Karos? If I kill it, the ritual will be over, and the human would have failed!"

"No… in case you haven't noticed, the human saved our lives by the action he took…" Karos stated looking into the center of the field, watching the dark warrior fighting off the attack from the larger creature. "It was clear that the alpha was lying in wait for us."

"So…"

Karos turned, and stared his comrade in the eye. "So… you will not **rob** him of his honor…"

"He deserves his chance… to finish this…" Karos said, looking back at the human who was fighting for his life.

* * *

The H'rukai assaults became more intense, as it used its height and speed to ward off Lantern's counterattacks. The creature rushed in toward him, its claws grasping at him ferociously, tearing into the front of his armor. Lantern bent slightly backwards and to the right, to spin out of the reach of the sharp claws. Retaliating with a series of parries and thrusts, nicking the creature's arms on each swing of his sword.

The H'rukai then swung its right claw forcibly at the head of Green Lantern, the sound of its claw swooshed over his head as it missed. Lantern then lunged forward and drove the sword into the creature's right shoulder area once again, this time deeper into the monster's flesh. The creature swung its right arm back forcefully, catching Lantern across the face, sending his helmet flying backwards off his head, his body close behind. Lantern's sword still embedded into the chest area of the H'rukai, wrought it with so much pain that it looked to almost pass out from the injury. It instead roared its fury, pulling the bloodied sword from its wound, tossing the weapon aside.

Lantern landed awkwardly on his shoulder again, unsure if he could still move it. His vision blurred now, as it became difficult for him to make out the outline of the creature's body, as the sun peeked from behind the clouds once again. The H'rukai bounded toward his position, and Lantern turned, racing toward the back end of the clearing, toward the bushes that lined its edge.

His head throbbing violently, Lantern ran as fast as he could to reach the waiting bushes.

The H'rukai roared defiantly, extending its stride, as its prey came within reach of its open mouth, ready to satisfy its desire to kill this bothersome adversary. Anticipating the taste of the unusual creature's blood in its mouth, it didn't hesitate as its quarry dived into the bushes, where it did the same, the H'rukai refusing to let him escape again. As the creature hit the bushes, the foliage gave way to its weight, pushing forward with it, as it suddenly saw the ground beneath itself disappear. The H'rukai screeched in terror as it fell downward into the emptiness of air, gravity taking possession of its huge form.

* * *

Karos and the Talon soldiers raced across the open field, towards the wide gap at the back end of the clearing, realizing that the opening led to a cliff.

"What a **stupid** human… to trap himself like that…" one of the warriors chuckled sarcastically.

"Yes, he fought bravely, but he got careless at the end…" another ridiculed.

Reaching the edge of the cliff, expecting to see the lifeless bodies of the two combatants at the bottom, what they saw next made them gasp. There was a creaking noise to the left of the opening as they suddenly saw a pair of hands reaching slowly up, one at a time, on a thick vine tied to a stake that was deeply driven into the ground. Karos reached down, grabbed the hand, and pulled upward. Up came the body of the Green Lantern, bloodied, battered, bruised, and gasping for air.

Lantern knelt down to one knee, facing the ground, slowly getting his breath back, smiling faintly.

"… Uh… thanks…" he said to no one in particular.

The Thanagarians looked at him wide-eyed wondering how in the world did he survive such an ordeal. Karos looked at Lantern.

"You had this planned, my friend?"

"Yeah…I decided not to kill it…" Lantern said diligently. "It didn't deserve to die…"

The contingent of soldiers noticed a vine on the other side of the opening, and peered down to the right side to see that the vine had snared the creature around one its clawed feet, the H'rukai, motionless, hung suspended alongside the cliff, ten meters down.

Lantern looked up quizzically, "Did I complete this **T'jinn Jakat**?"

"Yes, Human… you did…" Karos smiled, giving the human newfound respect. "You did, indeed."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16:

From the access port of his shuttle, Lantern observed their progress with intense curiosity, as a team of Black Talon soldiers clamped the anti-grav units onto the limbs of the suspended H'rukai creature and slowly elevated it to the waiting Thanagarian shuttle for its transport back to their base camp. It was breathing laboriously from the anesthesia that was administered to it, to help prevent any additional damage to its wounds, which were still causing it great pain with each of its movements. Once the creature was secured upon the shuttle, it turned and jetted northwest across the horizon.

"What will happen to it?" Lantern asked, as Corporal Karos came onto the gangplank.

"Its wounds will be treated and once it has healed, it will wait to serve the Thanagarian Empire once again." Karos explained thoughtfully.

"For you to hunt for **sport**, you mean…"

"No… to teach another young thanagarian the **art of survival**, as you have demonstrated here today…" Karos corrected.

"So what happened here today is considered normal?"

Karos laughed lightly, as he began to stow away his gear, "Not even close… What you did, would be considered 'extraordinary'. Most would not have survived against the first of the H'rukai that you faced. However, you… my friend, survived against two, and you did this without any prior training, and with only primitive weapons."

"Weren't I supposed to face the two of them?"

"No, Green Lantern… you were to face only one H'rukai. There must have been a miscommunication of some kind."

_Right…_ John thought, his face reflecting improbability.

He looked down at the camouflaged chest armor that he'd worn, inspecting the lacerated fissures on its left side, when a thought hit him.

"Tell me something…"

"All right…"

"Is the H'rukai's vision **thermic** in nature?"

"Why… yes… how did you know?"

"When I was covered in mud, it couldn't see or smell me, but after the rain washed the mud away, it became very clear that it could see me just fine. Just seemed logical that it used its prey's body heat to see."

"It was very clever of you to get into the mud, that tactic has been proven very useful when facing these creatures." Karos commented.

_Cleverness had nothing to do with it… Luck is more like it…_ Lantern smiled inwardly.

Karos examined the area of the dented armor, pointing to the center of the chest plate. " I see that your tracking device was destroyed. That, my friend, made it very difficult to find you."

_Another coincidence? Looks to me like someone was trying to set me up… _John smirked.

"So what happens now?"

"The lieutenant is waiting for your return… she will debrief you…"

"Thanks…"

"Anytime… _'**Citizen'**_…" Karos smiled broadly, walking towards the cockpit, as the shuttle began its liftoff.

* * *

Lieutenant Pilar P'thal had a feeling of elation as she gaited through the semi-darkened hallways toward the shuttle bay. She realized that her friend had been given a chance to live, thanks to the actions of the human called John Stewart. Shayera Hol would have a voice at the judgment that would have been used to take her life, but now, no one would be able to silence her. The Elders would have no choice but to hear from a source that had witnessed the entire incident and truly believed in her actions.

After rounding a corner, P'thal slowed her pace when she noticed that the corridor was suddenly engulfed within stygian blackness. Spotting a flash of metal, she walked slowly up to the glow torch that was attached to the left side of the corridor, and lightly tapped it with her knuckles. The torch rocked loosely upon the wall, and glowed weakly from her tapping as she realized that this was not something that was occurring naturally. No. The device had been tampered with, but why?

Out of the corner of her eye, her vision began to distinguish the shifting of a dark figure standing deep within the shadows. She reached for her weapon, knowing that it was too late. The particle beam slammed into her right side, raising her body, completely off the ground, colliding her into the unyielding wall of stone. She fell limply into a heap onto the cold surface of the floor, her armor clanging hollowly within the empty corridor.

The figure listened intently for sounds of any passersby that may have heard the disturbance, and decided to investigate; hearing nothing, he bounded to the fallen officer, rummaging through the folds of her tunic. The figure stood up slowly, lifting his hands toward the faulting torch, tapping it lightly, studying the purpose of his assault. The emerald hue from the power ring gleamed brightly within the dull glow of the torchlight as he smiled with satisfaction. Looking down at his fallen victim, his smile quickly turned to distaste, as he lifted his weapon, pointing its barrel at the helmeted head of the unconscious P'thal.

"It has come to my attention that you too, are confused as to where your **loyalty** should lay, Lieutenant…" he whispered harshly, fingering the trigger.

Suddenly, voices and footfalls of booted feet rebounded off the walls of the corridor as Talon soldiers entered the darkened hallway. Looking up in their direction, the figure cursed silently under his breath as he ran briskly into the opposite direction, away from the sounds that unknowingly saved the unconscious officer's life.

* * *

Shayera sat within her cell, motionless, as she anticipated his return. The news had traveled back fast about the human's accomplishment, and the reception to his victory caused her to release a big sigh of relief. Even though he didn't kill the two H'rukai creatures, the number one objective for any participant of the T'jinn Jakat was to survive and to incapacitate the foe, which Lantern did impressively. Now she waited, patiently hoping that he would stop by to see her before preparing to stand before the High Council.

She didn't want to focus on the fact that he would speak to the High Council, and that there would be a chance that she could walk away from certain death. No… she decided that she would remain emotionless about the whole thing. The reason was clear to her, even though John succeeded, it didn't guarantee that the Elders would automatically grant her clemency, which meant that there was still a chance that her execution could still take place. That's why she didn't want John to needlessly put his life in jeopardy, to fight for something that seemed to be hopeless. However, she also knew that John wouldn't just sit back and let anything happen to her, not if there was an opportunity for him to turn the tables and improve her situation.

One question then surfaced from within Shayera's mind. Where was Kragger during all of this? With all of his gloating, surely he must have monitored Lantern's progress and most likely had heard the news. What was he up to?

Without warning, the cellblock was thrown into blackness with a sudden loss of power, including the familiar humming from the field generator that supplied the shielding around her cell. This was definitely questionable. Her instincts kicked in as she wondered if this was just inferred chance or some ploy to sabotage her ability to stand before the Tribunal? If she were to attempt to escape; then they would have the right to kill her on sight, which indicated that this was a setup, clearly designed to destroy her one chance at regaining her freedom.

Her keen eyes looked about in the darkness as the dim light from the outside hallway filtered in. There was total silence. Nothing moved. Then she picked up the soft glint of metal near the entranceway, just before the particle beam broke through the silence, slicing through the murkiness, exploding against the far back wall of the holding cell, causing her to jump and roll to her left, hitting the floor in a crouch. The weapon fired again, in her general direction, hitting nothing but the far back wall, showering sparks everywhere.

"Make your choice…**Traitor!!**" a voice called out roughly. "Escape, and …you may live… but I promise you… stay where you are, you will **die!!**"

The beam shot across the cell block again, this time striking her bunk, singeing the blanket on her mattress, white smoke rising slowly upward, causing her to crouch lower to the floor.

"How do I know that you won't kill me anyway?" Shayera retorted.

"You **don't**!"

The energy beam exploded out of the muzzle of the disruptor, towards her direction again, and careened off the metal post of the bunk bed, sending the blazing light downward towards Shayera's position. Shayera took to the air with one huge flap of her wings, went straight up towards the ceiling of the structure, then quickly changed directions, and shot downward toward the entrance of the cellblock. Tucking her wings inward, she reached out and grabbed onto the doorsill, kicking her feet forward, catching her assailant in the mid section, then somersaulted back onto her feet. The attacker crashed into the corridor wall, dazed by the unexpected counter of the intended victim, dropping the disruptor onto the floor.

Shayera reached for the disruptor when the masked assailant's right arm lashed out, armed with a small blade, directly at her forearm. Snapping herself backward, Shayera swept out her left foot, kicking the weapon further down the empty hallway, out of the reach of her attacker, all the while, taking a defensive stance, suddenly becoming irritated with the whole situation.

Shayera noted the movement of the other thanagarian, and was shocked to realize that something was wrong. The aggressor lunged forward with the blade extended; Shayera answered the move by stepping to the left, then sweeping her right arm out and upward, followed by grabbing the attacker's wrist with both hands, then twisting herself into a quick circle, applying pressure onto the assailant's arm, causing the would-be attacker to flip mid air, causing the figure's back to land with a loud thud onto the cold cemented floor. Before the masked thanagarian could recover, Shayera slammed a fisted right hand into the jaw of her assailant.

"That was careless… more like an amateur…" She said absently, reaching down at the masked figure's helmet. "Let's see who you are…"

Her suspicions were confirmed. The shadowed face belonged to a young female soldier, one that she'd never seen before, and one she felt that didn't have much experience at this sort of thing. _This is getting outta hand… looks like Kragger may have recruited some help..._

"Don't move, Lieutenant…"

The voice came out of the far end of the darkened corridor. The figure approached cautiously, eyeing the downed soldier, keeping the disruptor fixed at her position. As the darkened figure came closer, he kicked the disruptor that she'd disarmed from the unconscious soldier, closer to where Shayera knelt.

"Pick up the weapon…"

"Why should I…?" Shayera challenged, retrieving the small blade as she stood up, cupping it into her right hand, before turning to face the one that she knew was the cause of the attack. "So you can say that I was trying to **shoot** you in order to escape?"

"Pick it up…" the voice instructed, clearly irritated now.

"No."

"Alright, have it your way…" the figure said, aiming the disruptor's barrel at her, just a few meters away. The glow of the weapon flashed the corridor with its brightness as it fired.

* * *

Green Lantern wearily strolled out onto the gangplank as he disembarked from the shuttle towards the darkened corridors that led away from the shuttle bay. _Where the devil is P'thal…_ he thought impatiently. _I need to see Shayera…_

Looking around the docking port, he realized that there was no sign of the thanagarian officer. Deciding to go see Shayera, John started towards the corridor that he believed would lead him to the holding cells.

"John Stewart! **Wait!!**"

John turned to see a running Corporal Karos bounding towards him, away from the docked shuttle.

"Come with me! **Quickly!!**" Karos commanded, as he ran past him, motioning him to follow.

Both men raced down the darkened corridors, until finally approaching one that was well lit with activity. A group of Talon soldiers was lifting the body of Pilar P'thal onto a floating gurney that was hovering about a meter off the floor. John noticed that a medic was wrapping a compressing cloth tightly around the thanagarian officer's mid-section.

"What happened, sir?!" Karos exclaimed as he approached.

"Someone shot me…" P'thal replied weakly. "Ambushed-d…"

"Are you alright?" John asked with concern.

"I will be fine… however, I have bad news for you, John Stewart…"

"What is it… is it **Shayera**?"

"No… it's your ring… w-whoever attacked me… **took** your ring…" P'thal stammered.

A Talon soldier approached rapidly. "**Sir!**"

"What is it?" P'thal responded slowly.

"Sir, there was a disturbance in the cell block…"

"Have you informed the Commander?"

"We tried, sir, but we can't seem to find him…"

"What!! Take me to detention… **now!!**" P'thal ordered.

"No… belay that. Sir… your place is in the infirmary." The medic reprimanded.

"He's right…" John agreed, as he took off running down the corridor, "I'll check on **Shayera!!**"

"Corporal… go with him…" P'thal ordered, lying back onto the gurney.

"Yes, sir!!" Karos exclaimed, rising into the air with a sudden beating of his wings, speeding towards the direction of the departing human.

* * *

It took them only five minutes to reach the detention area. The hallway to the holding cell was nebulous, and devoid of sound, as the two men entered into it cautiously. John's heart began to race, fearing the worst, realizing that the cellblock was in utter blackness. There was no sign of life. Nothing. However, something did come to his senses.

"What is that smell?"

"Weapon's fire…" Karos replied.

"Are you sure…?"

"There's no mistaking it… especially in close quarters…" Karos looked closely at the floor close to the entrance of the cellblock. "Umm… look… at this…"

"What is it…?"

"Blood…"


	17. chapter 17

I want to say Thank you to all of the readers of this fic, andI want to apologize that it took so long for me to come backto complete the story. Something came up that took me away from the story. I hope you like rest of it. Thanks again!

* * *

Fifteen minutes ago…

He came to the darkened cellblock as a precaution to his plan, and wanted to make sure that the soldiers he had hired followed his instructions without error. Standing deep within the recessed shadows of the hallway, he noted that things were not going the way he had actually planned, for the prisoner had quickly disarmed the small knife from her foe's right hand, and then drove her fist into the female assailant's exposed jaw.

The prisoner knelt over the unconscious soldier momentarily when another hired soldier appeared behind her with his weapon drawn. The soldier should have killed her at point blank range, however he chose to coax the prisoner into picking up the disruptor he had kicked over to her.

She refused, of course, as he knew that she read the move as the soldier's inexperience. He didn't expect her to move as fast as she did, as she whirled herself around unexpectedly, throwing the small blade at the armed soldier, sinking it deep into the forearm that held the weapon, causing it to fire upward, missing his intended target badly.

_Stupid move…_ he thought, recognizing that these soldiers clearly lacked the training that they bragged about having when the mission was given to them. His instincts had warned him that such a thing would happen.

Just as he was about to take matters into his own hands, the obscured figure withheld his action, as the last soldier he hired ran up the hallway, firing his disruptor at her awkwardly, which prevented her from picking up the disruptor so she could arm herself. She, instead, took to the air, flying past the unseen observer, unaware of his presence, away from the trio of assassins, and down into the hallway, disappearing into its darkness.

The pair checked their compatriot's condition realizing that she was still bereft of her senses, and decided to leave her behind. They took to the air awkwardly, in pursuit of the escaped prisoner.

He was about to leave as well, but footfalls further up the hallway clanged loudly as someone was quickly approaching. The female soldier would be visible to whoever it was, and would most likely be asked questions that she would not be prepared for. He ran over to the semi-conscious soldier, and dragged her back into the darkness.

_I am sorry my dear… it's unfortunate for you that you're in the wrong place at the wrong time…_

* * *

Now… 

"I think she went this way…" the winged figure whispered discordantly into his companion's direction, while fluttering his wings rapidly, unable to maintain his altitude, all the while clutching onto the red-drenched cloth that he had used to tie off his bleeding forearm. He found it very difficult to concentrate onto the task at hand, considering the fact that he had just removed a miniature-throwing blade from his wound a few moments before.

"Are you sure…?" a burly figure asked roughly, coming up from behind, hovering with sluggish grace. "The way you're coddling that scratch, it's a wonder that you would have the slightest idea."

"Look, Turlak… how was I to know that she had that blade?"

"We were warned that she was crafty and not to underestimate her… and as usual Ghanja, you weren't paying attention…" Turlak scoffed. "We were lucky that I showed up when I did, otherwise you'd be laying unconscious with Verdya back at the cell block."

"Yeah, I was lucky…"

_But, don't worry; Hol has my full attention now…_ Ghanja thought darkly to himself, grimacing each time he applied pressure with the cloth. _I won't make the same mistake again. She'll pay for this…_

"Well, at least my mission was successful," Turlak, grinned, clutching onto the object that he held tightly in his left hand. "Hol won't be getting any help from anyone, now."

He looked up and around the area, realizing that the stalactites hung gloomily about everywhere within the vast cavernous cave.

"She couldn't have gotten far… let's move."

* * *

She gazed down at the two figures below her fearlessly, as they headed deeper into the cavern. A smug smile broke across her face, as she knew that she had succeeded in eluding her would-be pursuers by melting herself within the shadows of three huge stalactites just above the winged attackers. Doing this by using her hands, and her feet to pin herself up against the cave ceiling, fighting the gravity that attempted to pull her from her perch. 

_I was right… they're mercs…_ and _not very good ones at that… _Shayera thought with amusement. Then her face turned grim, as she realized that she was disappointed that it wasn't Kragger that had tried to shoot her in the hallway. Then the smile quickly returned. _Hmmmm… let's see if these clowns are stupid enough to lead me to him..._

With that, she released her grip from the inverted cones of jagged stone, and dropped a full meter downward, then silently expanded her wings outward, catching the up draft of the slight breeze within the cavern. Quietly, she turned and glided herself upward near the ceiling, toward the pair of the two distracted mercenaries, who were unaware that the hunters had just became the hunted.

* * *

John Stewart stood silently within the darkness of the cellblock as he stared down at the scorched holes on the mattress of the bed. With no response to his calling out her name moments before, the sweat on his brow began to reflect the worry in his mind, causing him to consider the possibility that Shayera might not have survived the apparent attack. 

Suddenly the familiar hum of machinery whirred back to life as the cellblock became illuminated within it's emanation of bright lights, making it easier for him to look around further, and to finally reveal what he desperately needed to know.

_She's not here! _His heart began to beat again as he realized he'd been holding his breath.

Corporal Karos entered the cellblock, assessing the damage, leaving behind a small group of thanagarian soldiers that had joined him to help investigate the disturbance. He noted the blast marks within the cellblock, pondering what had happened to cause this incident.

"I am confused, John Stewart." Karos commented quietly, with a puzzled look on his face. "Why would Lieutenant Hol try to escape… especially now?"

"Escape? You're kidding, right?"

"I'm sorry, my friend… but, that is what the evidence shows…"

"Evidence? Look around… what do you see?" John asked solemnly.

Karos took a step towards the middle of the cellblock. "Well… somehow the Lieutenant must have caused an overload in the power matrix, and knocked out the prison shields, which led to the weapons fire in here, and last but now least, I see that the Lieutenant isn't here, which means that she must have escaped."

He turned and faced John. "Is that not what you see? It's really quite obvious."

John's expression was unbelieving at what he'd just heard. _It's obvious that you know nothing about Shayera Hol…_ he thought.

"I see… well, take a look at this," he said as he approached the metal bed, kneeling down, next to the singed areas of the mattress. "These burns on the mattress… are from an angle…"

He demonstrated by using the line of sight method with his finger visually tracing from the burned hole on the mattress to the scorched blast point on the metal pole of the bed.

"There were at least two blasts that ricocheted off this post, one onto the mattress… and the other onto the floor. Which tells me that the shots came from over there."

John turned towards the entranceway. "Someone was definitely firing at Shayera, and she tried to find cover at her bunk. From what I can tell, she had no choice but to escape."

Standing up, John looked over at the young corporal.

"And there was something to what you had said yourself. Why would she choose now, this moment, to make her escape…? It doesn't' make any sense… there was no reason for her to escape…" his voice trailed off, as he realized that his speculations reminded him of all of the times he witnessed the methods that Batman utilized whenever he had studied a crime scene.

A thanagarian soldier walked in and gestured to Karos, beckoning him to follow him back into the hallway.

"Those are good points, John Stewart… but… excuse me."

John stared at the floor when something else occurred to him that he had failed to mention. What if this attack was somehow coordinated with the attack on P'thal? That would mean that there is a group of soldiers out there that wanted Shayera dead at any cost.

"John Stewart!" Karos's voice called out, a moment later.

Corporal Karos was standing a few meters to the right of the entrance to the cellblock, as John came out.

"What's up?" John asked.

"We have a problem… over here." Karos gestured, pointing downward.

John walked about a meter from the entranceway, rounded the corner to his left, and was shocked to see a crumpled body on the cold stone floor.

"She's dead…" Karos commented. "Her neck is broken…"

"What…?"

"It's possible that Lieutenant Hol may have been more desperate than we thought, and did indeed take this opportunity to make her escape…"

"You can't be serious… there's no way that Shayera would do this…" John remarked incredulously, as he knelt down to take a closer look at the body.

"Do you know who she is?"

"Yes… her name is Private Verdya Lam…"

"There's no blood on her…" John noted.

Jumping back to his feet, John walked briskly toward the spot where they saw the droplets of blood earlier, kneeling down, looking up at the entrance of the cellblock, then back in the direction of the corpse that laid hidden a few meters away to the left. He knew that there was something missing, something that could put some sense to all of this.

_No way that this was an escape attempt…_ John hypothesized. _Someone went to a lot of trouble to force Shayera out of her cell… and then made it look like it was…_

Footfalls on stone resounded off the corridor walls as more thanagarian soldiers came down the corridor to stop next to where John was examining the floor.

"Karos…?" a winged soldier said as he looked down onto the human.

"Ensign Nor…" Karos saluted.

"So, its true… the traitor took a life?"

"It looks that way, sir."

"Now wait a minute," John interjected, standing up.

"I'm afraid that I cannot… human." The thanagarian junior officer said eying John with pure mistrust.

"Where's the body?"

"Over there, sir." Karos pointed.

Nor stepped over to where the slain victim was laying, stared at it for a moment, then stiffened up, and turned abruptly to Karos.

"Karos, I will inform the Commander about this situation. You on the other hand, will take the men, and do an aerial hunt. Find her… and if you have to…" his voice lowered. "… you have permission to shoot to kill."

"Sir? You found the Commander?" Karos asked.

"He was never missing," Nor declared quietly.

"Sir, there may be a chance that Hol may actually be innocent… perhaps we should…"

"That, Corporal, is not our concern,." Nor interrupted.

"Yes, sir."

Ensign Nor walked off rigidly, heading back down the hallway, as John stared after him.

_Man… he looks familiar…_ he thought.

"I am sorry, John Stewart." Karos offered.

"Can you stand there and tell me, that this is as cut and dry as he is trying to make it?" John asked, his voice beginning to feel the nervousness increasing within his body.

"I have my orders…"

"Come on, Karos! Think!" John cried out, desperately trying to maintain his composure.

"Does any of this make any sense to you! She was about to be heard at the Tribunal! There is no way she would jeopardize that!"

"It doesn't matter what I may think…" Karos rebuked. "What matters… is that I follow orders. Once again, I am sorry that this did not work out for you. Please… do not interfere."

"Sound the alarm!" he yelled.

Karos turned, and with a mighty sweep of his wings, took off into the air.

"Lets go!"

The plumed soldiers all took to the air, preparing themselves to hunt down the woman that had not only betrayed their people, but as they now also believed, had murdered a young private that was only doing her job.

As the three-toned signal began to blare across the cavernous insides of the mountain, John Stewart stood within the hallway silently, ignoring the screeching noise. All he could do was realize that there was someone here that would go to any length to see that Shayera would die! And they made sure that this time he would be powerless to stop it.

_The hell I can't! _he thought, sprinting back down the hallway, in search of the infirmary.

* * *

"You idiot! I can't believe that you lost her!" Turlak barked. 

Ghanja stared off blankly as they settled back to the ground, darkness all around them. He did manage to stop the bleeding on his wound, but that did not make him feel any better. Disappointed that he would not have his chance to redeem himself, Ghanja silently cursed to himself.

"Turlak, I'm sorry… I thought that she'd gone this way," he said apologetically.

Suddenly the alarm echoed loudly throughout the cave, signifying the discovery of the lieutenant's escape.

"Well, it doesn't matter now. Someone else will have to kill her." Turlak smiled inwardly, looking around. "He's not going to be happy about this at all… not at all! C'mon!"

* * *

The pair headed down a dimly lit hallway unaware that the object of the alarm was only a few meters behind them, adhering to the shadows, spying their every move, focused on finding the one that had caused all of this trouble for her, and in her mind, she would not be denied her vengeance.

* * *

Pilar P'thal sat up in her bed angrily, as she struggled with putting her arm into one of the sleeves of her uniform. The pain was beginning to subside since the painkiller had begun to take effect, but it didn't make it any easier for her to move her arms around. Hearing the alarm had awakened her, and she realized that it meant an escaped prisoner was on the loose. P'thal knew that her friend was in trouble, and needed her help. 

"Need a hand?"

Pilar wheeled around to see a stone faced human staring back at her.

"John Stewart! What is going on?" she asked, exasperated.

"It seems that your populace here, believes that Shayera has murdered a soldier so that she could escape from her detention cell!"

"That's preposterous!"

"I know. Pilar… they've been ordered to kill her on sight!" John exclaimed.

"Did Kragger give the order?"

"That's what I think…" he voiced while helping her with her other arm. "At least that's what Nor said."

"Ensign Nor?"

"Yeah… I believe that was his name!"

P'thal thought for a moment.

"We need to find Kragger, and I think I know where to look! Let's go!" P'thal instructed.

"Not yet! I need to get my ring first!" he looked at her sternly.

"I told you John, that whoever attacked me, also took your ring."

"Yeah, I know, but I know where it is, and I need you to take me to it."

"How is that possible?" P'thal asked with disbelief.

"No time to explain… we gotta go!" John said as he raced out of the infirmary.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

Gliding within the veil of darkness, Shayera Hol soared high above the supposed mercenaries, keeping them within her range of vision, as with each beat of their wings, led her deeper into the base of the mountain. From what she could tell, they had suddenly plunged downward into the depths of a deep canyon, and leveled off into a wide sub chamber of granite, well away from the main populace of the Thanagarian outpost, and well away from the prying eyes of the famed Black Talon. Landing softly behind a huge outcropping of stone, she watched the duo enter into a corridor, one that wouldn't allow her to maintain flight.

The helmeted pair strode leisurely within the narrow path, and then turned left to face what resembled a slight recession about midway within the passageway. It looked completely natural to the naked eye, but when trained in the methods of observation, she quickly noticed the subtle differences that had set it apart from the rest of its surroundings. The winged men stood there for a moment, and then took a step forward, their forms shimmering slightly as they phased into the wall of rock, vanishing from the nebulous passageway.

_Whoa…_ Shayera thought. 

Surprised with their sudden disappearance, her shadowed form scurried into the corridor, and faced the embrasure of rock within the small alcove, studying it closely with her acute eyesight. Feeling along the right side of the wall with her hand, she came across an imperceptible indentation upon its surface, which was uniform in size and shape, her instincts determining that this was something not so natural. Pressing the impression with the palm of her hand, the wall of rock began to radiate somewhat, slowly dissipating, as if its composition had dispersed into nothingness. Shayera hesitated with understanding, when she could see a faint source of light from a room on the other side. Quickly, she stepped forward, sensing that the wall would become solid once again.

_A holographic entry with density confinement… clever…_ Shayera thought, as she slowly made her way into the room, looking around. It was not the natural edifice of stone that she had expected to see; instead its smooth walls indicated it was something otherwise, that it was indeed, man-made. _Did Kragger construct this?_

The room stretched out a few meters, and then cut sharply to the right branching into a corridor, where she came to a stop at its entry, listening intently, until she picked up the trailing sound of their voices, still deep in conversation, still unaware of her presence.

"He's gonna give us grief over this… I tell ya…" Ghanja mumbled nervously, looking around within the darkness of the corridor. "He's an officer… and you know how officers get… when things ain't done by their specifications..."

"Let me correct you, Ghanja," Turlak snipped coolly. "He's not going to like it that you and Verdya screwed up... I, on the other hand, have no reason to worry, for as you already know, I completed my mission."

Ghanja eyed him warily, realizing that his colleague's smug remark didn't sit too well with him, recognizing that it was a sign of disrespect, in which Turlak had exhibited numerous times before whenever he had spoken to him. For some reason Turlak acted as if he was better than he was.

"Well… that may be true, but… at the least, I face my foes head on… as a true warrior should, not by ambushing an enemy from within the secrecy of the shadows," he rebutted, boastfully.

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"Nothin'…" Ghanja said, feigning bemusement, smiling inwardly with satisfaction.

Exiting from the corridor, they stepped into a spacious warehouse; its walls were part of the cave itself, with several rows of brightly lit lamps hanging down from the ceiling, where towards the rear, moderately housing a stockpile of thanagarian weaponry, munitions, and equipment. Passing through it quickly, they walked to its far side, entering into a meeting room, half expecting to see the one had employed their services.

"He's not here…" Ghanja said, sitting down sluggishly, onto one of the cushioned chairs that were placed around the large metal conference table.

Before making her way to the doorway of the conference room, Shayera quickly scanned the arsenal of weapons, and picked up an energy mace from a nearby shelf, all the while listening keenly to the pair's parley.

"Weren't we supposed to meet here… so that we could take care of any loose ends before we returned to our unit?" Ghanja voiced with uncertainty, nursing his injured arm.

"Yeah… we were…" Turlak responded without interest, sitting and placing his disruptor on the conference table.

"So… what now?" Ghanja asked dejectedly, looking over into the corner of the room. "Do we take care of the prisoner now?"

"No…" Turlak said nonchalantly, also looking over to the far corner of the room. "We wait…"

_Prisoner?_ Shayera questioned silently to herself.

Kneeling, she carefully peered around the doorway, managing to stay out of the two Thanagarians' view, to see whom they were talking about. She almost dropped her mace when her eyes met with the eyes of the 'prisoner'. Bound and gagged, with a look of disbelief on his helmeted face, he was staring back at her, eyes enlarged.

_Kragger!_

It was then when the muzzle of a disruptor touched the back of her head, as she suddenly sensed the presence of another, standing behind her.

"Lieutenant Hol… let's not be rude…" the voice whispered maliciously, as an armored hand reached around her, taking the weapon she held, roughly from her hands.

"Please… join us!"

* * *

It had appeared to the Thanagarian search squads, while scouring through the numerous black crevasses that were littered throughout the encampment, that time slithered by too slowly, as each of them were groping heedlessly in the dark for anything that could lead to the whereabouts of their absconded collaborator. All the while, their thoughts slowly began to converge upon the realization that Lieutenant Shayera Hol, well versed in the art of concealment, was trained exclusively for this particular game of cat and mouse.

Despite that fact, their certainty continued to remain bound, not because their quarry had perhaps caused the very destruction of Thanagar, by choosing to save this feeble planet, thereby averting their one chance to forever eradicate their most hated enemy. No… not for that… it was because of her cowardly and perhaps her most dishonorable of acts, to needlessly take a life, an innocent life… in order to escape from the responsibility of her actions. And for that, each of them silently swore to themselves that she was going to pay… and that payment would be… with her blood.

Upon reaching the detention center, Pilar P'thal and John Stewart rambled briskly down the corridor; leading them deeper into the recesses of the caves, away from the occupied sections of the encampment, away from the groups of armed soldiers who continued with their inane hunt for the 'escaped' prisoner.

Stewart suddenly came to an abrupt stop, looked around briefly, and then closed his eyes momentarily as if focusing inwardly. P'thal stared at the dark skinned human ponderously, not understanding his delay. He opened his eyes, and then turned to his right, nodding his head slightly.

"That way…" he whispered, looking upward.

P'thal turned, and looked into the direction he had indicated. The terrain had jutted upward into the darkness, and she could see that it would be impossible for the human to climb it, especially without the required gear that it would warrant. She smiled to herself, as she quickly realized why he had come for her. She would have to carry him over the high mesa of rock to get to the next level of the cave's floor. Understanding this task, P'thal walked behind him, placing her arms underneath his, interlocking her hands together across his chest, ignoring the pain caused from her earlier injury, and with a stalwart sweep of her wings, the pair sprang upward into the darkness.

Having had no previous interactions with humans, P'thal was astonished that with each stroke of her wings, she became slightly aware of the aromatic smells of the human's perspiration, filling her nostrils with each breath that she took. Bred from a warrior race, P'thal knew all too well, that there was no other element that could induce a thanagarian female's primal instincts which fueled attraction other than the stimuli of smell, and John's fragrance, she realized, was pleasing to her senses, and to her amazement, very distracting, making it difficult for her to concentrate.

_I believe that I have found at least **one** reason why Shayera is so attracted to this human_… P'thal mused to herself.

Clearing her throat, P'thal quietly forced herself to focus on the things at hand, and began to have uncertainty about the choice of method in which Green Lantern was using to search for his ring. She also acknowledged the fact that she had never ventured this far into the caves before, and therefore had no idea where they were, and for that matter, where they were going.

Finally, they touched down onto the next level of the cave's floor, allowing John Stewart to continue his trek, and once again, he withdrew within himself, looking absently about, his face filled with strain.

"This way…" John declared finally, walking off into the darkness.

After a short while, they came upon another group of despondent searchers, and P'thal could clearly see the anger in their eyes as they leered at Stewart with disparagement.

"Why are they looking at me that way?" John questioned, passing them by, ignoring their glances.

P'thal shook her head. "They're wondering how you… could be involved with one that is so… dishonorable…"

"Are you saying that you believe that Shayera is capable of murdering that girl?"

"Of course not… I just know that we need to find her… before anyone else does!" P'thal sputtered, feeling uneasy.

"I know… That's why we need to go… there," John said, stopping as they approached an escarpment, pointing downward.

The canyon was massive, at least 400 meters across, where sheer cliffs and indentations within the rock, could be seen within the shadows. P'thal looked back and upward, observing that all of the lights from the searchers were concentrated back near the outskirts of the encampment, branching outward slowly, then turned back, looking downward, noticing that no lights could be seen from within the chasm.

"My ring is down there… " John muttered, barely audible.

Pilar P'thal had always considered herself a patient person by nature, because her job had demanded it, especially when hunting wanted felons, however this situation made her realize that even she had limits. For in her mind, this was getting ridiculous, and it was time to put a stop to this nonsense, for her patience had finally ran out.

"John! How could you possibly know! We're wasting time looking for your ring when we should be looking for Shayera!" she shrieked, looking at him incredulously.

"Now you want us to go down into that abyss of darkness to look for something, that is… clearly lost! If we don't find her first, they will kill her!"

"You think that I don't know that!" John snapped back.

"Did it ever occur to you… that whoever attacked you, is most likely the one responsible for forcing Shayera to escape!"

John Stewart looked back into the chasm. "Wherever my ring is… I'd bet my life that the one who's trying to kill her is not far behind."

"What makes you so sure?" P'thal asked, not convinced.

He turned to look at her with a serious gleam in his eye, and calmly replied, "Because… my ring isn't lost, …it's linked to me… telepathically, and right now, it's calling out to me… from down there. Pilar, let's go…"

With that, P'thal sighed reluctantly, then picked him up from behind, and swooped downward into the void of blackness, even more afraid that they would be too late to save her friend from the coming wrath of Thanagar.

* * *

"Gentlemen… We have another guest!"

The winged man shoved Shayera into the conference room, as she smiled with each step that she took, looking at the surprised faces of the two 'mercs' that had led her there.

"What the…!" Turlak exclaimed, jumping out of his chair, grabbing his weapon. "Where did she come from!"

"She was camped outside of the door, gathering intelligence, I'd assume…" the helmeted figure responded, keeping the disruptor fixed on her, while placing the energy mace onto the conference table.

"You surprised me, Lieutenant. I'd presumed that you would head to the surface, and make good your escape."

Then he looked down at Kragger, his face registering understanding.

"Ahh… you came in search for the Commander, didn't you? Of course… you wanted revenge for what he tried to do to your human…"

"Yeah… well I thought that he was the one that wanted me dead," Shayera said.

"Oh, yes… you're quite right. He did indeed want you dead. However, the Commander failed to do what was necessary to make sure that your death would be… imminent."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning… I had to take matters into my own hands, before he could ruin his well-conceived plan. So… I released the Alpha into the valley, thinking it would ensure the human's death. Meanwhile, Kragger was monitoring the human's progress, and was about to stop the contest when it was discovered that the other H'rukai beast was also released… I stopped him," the masked man sneered, looking at Kragger with contempt.

Kragger gruffly barked his comments, though his gagged mouth.

"Come now, Commander. There's no dishonor when you are using whatever's necessary to destroy your enemy," Nor said, responding shrewdly.

" So… it was you…" Shayera hissed.

"Yes. However… your human proved to be a far better warrior than I had anticipated… so I had to make sure that he would not be able to help you, again… ergo 'Plan B'…"

"Forcing me to escape from the detention block..." Shayera replied, pausing, studying his uniform.

"I'm sorry… but, do I know you, what is it …Ensign?" she quipped with sarcasm, gritting her teeth.

"Oh… where are my manners. My name is Nor," the winged man smiled wickedly as he removed his helmet, placing it on the table. "Naturu Nor, and no… you don't know me… but I, in fact, do know you."

"Yeah …well… I know enough to tell that you're no junior officer. Uh uh… that's a cover... you're Black Ops," Shayera surmised, menacingly. "Praetorian Raptorclaw… I'd bet…"

"Ha! Ha! Y-you're judging me!" Nor snickered, eyeing her with distaste. "Oh the nerve! You Imperial guard types truly amaze me, with your self-righteous ways. I never understood why Talek and the High Council sent you on this mission, for it is clear that you don't honor the ways of Thanagar."

"First of all, my mission on Earth was to gauge its defense capability against an apparent Gordainian invasion… at least that's what I was told. Instead, I unknowingly, helped conquer this world by deceiving the very people I was sent here to protect… only to find out that it was all a ruse… even to me."

Shayera's eyes grew cold and defiant. "Only to find that my people… the _'honorable'_ Thanagarian Empire …had become just as ruthless as the Gordainians themselves…"

"What did you say!"

"You heard me… there was a time when Thanagar followed a code of 'honor', and we as Thanagarians would have protected anyone from injustice, from anyone that would even think to attempt **genocide…** But somehow within the past five years that was forgotten, because why would it have been so acceptable to destroy an entire civilization, just so that we could claim victory…? So… if I'm a 'traitor' by preventing such an atrocity… then, what does that make you?"

Nor measured her for a moment, then slammed the butt of his weapon into her midsection, causing Shayera to gasp for air, as she fell to her knees, next to Kragger.

"It makes me… a patriot!" he bellowed angrily, loosing his temper, bringing the barrel of the disruptor up, pointing it directly at her head.

* * *

"What is this?" P'thal asked, raising the searchlight she carried, its beam illuminating the small alcove of stone, as the pair stood within the darkened corridor, unable to continue their search.

"I don't know… from what I can tell, the trail goes beyond here… past this wall," Lantern explained, his arms extended against the wall, pushing against it with his hands.

"You're saying that your ring is somehow on the other side?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying…"

P'thal stared at the wall momentarily, and then pulled her communicator from her belt, making adjustments to its settings.

"Karos… this is P'thal, over."

A minute slipped past, when she was about to call into the communicator once again, it suddenly squawked a response.

"Karos, here. Lieutenant, why are you calling me on a secure line?"

"Because I wanted to make sure that I'm talking to someone I trust. I'm going to leave my comm signal on, so that you can find me… and bring a level 5 cannon with you."

"Level 5 cannon? Are you planning on blowing something up?

"Yes… something like that…" she answered. "Hurry!"

"Yes, sir! I'm on my way! Karos, out…"

John Stewart stared at the rock wall. "There isn't time… stand back!"

"W-wha…?"

He pushed P'thal back into the opening of the corridor, then faced the wall, and raised his right hand. His eyes closed, John Stewart reached outward with his mind.

* * *

Nor wanted so much to pull the trigger, his finger trembled as he felt the firmness of the firing mechanism, knowing that it could be so easy to just kill her right now. But, he had orders.

"What do you know of 'honor'? I should have killed you outside the cave when I had my knife at your throat…" he growled inaudibly, his temper beginning to subside.

"I can see that you Praetorian types still feel that killing is the only solution to any problem…" Shayera spat, catching her breath, looking up, her eyes furious.

Kragger barked loudly with a few challenging, but muffled sounds.

"Oh, don't worry… Commander. I'm not going to kill her… not yet. After all… I need the Lieutenant to kill you, before I can proceed with my plan…" Nor grinned, looking over at Ghanja. "Pick them up…"

He eyed Turlak eagerly. "Do you have the item?"

"Of course…" Turlak smiled gruffly, relaxing his stance, disruptor in hand. Reaching into his belt, he pulled out a small bundle of cloth, placing it on the metal table, stepping back.

Nor, smiling, reached over, pulled the bundle to him, and anxiously unfolded the cloth. In the center of the cloth was a ring of emerald hue, sparkling brightly from the lights above.

"So… this is it," Nor smiled gleefully. "Hmmmm… we can learn much from this technology… once we unlock its secrets…"

Ghanja walked slowly to where Kragger was on the floor, studying the object that gleamed brightly from the table, reaching down, picking Kragger up, as he helped him to his feet.

Shayera looked over at the table, unable to see exactly what the Praetorian operative was referring to, instead, she turned her attention onto the soldier, and knew that he was the one that she had confronted in the hallway of the detention area. Instantly, a plan formed within her mind when a realization suddenly hit her.

"Where's your friend?" she whispered, still on her knees. 'Weren't there three of you?"

"She was unconscious… we had to leave her…" Ghanja paused apprehensively, caught off guard by her question.

"You do know that Raptorclaws are known to never leave witnesses…" Shayera continued, with a hint warning in her voice, slowly getting to her feet. "Which means…"

"W-what?" Ghanja stammered, hesitantly, looking at Turlak and Nor.

"She's dead…"

Ghanja turned, looking at her, his look of bewilderment was not surprising to her, but Turlak's expression, she noticed, never changed.

"Don't believe me, then ask them…" Shayera said, knowingly.

Nor looked up from the table, and shrugged.

"Oh… Ghanja… Unfortunately, Verdya… will not be joining us…"

"W-what! What do you mean!" Ghanja responded, eyeing Nor suspiciously.

"She made a mistake… and left herself open to defeat," Nor informed him, with justification in his voice.

"He killed her…" Shayera smirked.

"K-killed her? W-why?" Ghanja voiced with uncertainty, clearly agitated now.

"She was a-alive when we left her…"

"I had no choice… there were others approaching her position and she was…"

"A liability… just like you…" Shayera finished his sentence, nodding towards Ghanja.

"You knew about this?" Ghanja asked Turlak, realizing that his companion had maneuvered his disruptor so that it was pointing directly at him.

"I 'm not surprised… But, it's like… I told you, Ghanja," Turlak scoffed bleakly. "You never pay attention."

Suddenly, a resonant droning became audible from the conference table… steadily growing louder… vibrating from the ring itself. Its aura began to illuminate brighter, as all eyes turned toward the unexpected disturbance.

"Ch' tera!" Turlak squawked loudly, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. "How is that possible!"

Shayera stared at the object on the table, apprehending that the source was Green Lantern's power ring. Within her mind an image began to form… it was an image of John's face.

_Shayera… I'm coming…_ it whispered.

The humming suddenly blared into a loud screeching noise, as a green energy bubble formed around the ring. Nor tried desperately to seize the ring with both hands, but it quickly sprang upward, out of his reach, then shot forward, crashing through the thick wall, leaving behind a crumbling hole in its wake, as it shrieked across the expanse of the warehouse.

"NO!" Nor screamed in disgust.

He turned to pursue the ring of power not realizing that within that same moment, Shayera swept her wings out and back, catapulting herself towards the conference table, then grabbing the energy mace with an outstretched hand, and used her momentum to collide violently into the winged officer, sending them both flying through the door, out into the warehouse.

Ghanja yelled in defiance as he lunged towards Turlak, his arms flailing. Turlak fired his disruptor wildly, missing numerous times, until finally hitting the burly soldier in the shoulder.

Ghanja's body slammed painfully to the floor, as Turlak ran over, pointing the weapon at his ex-partner's chest.

"I'm sorry, Ghanja," he grinned, "This was bound to happen…"

Before Turlak could squeeze the trigger, a leg whipped out, kicking the disruptor out of his hands, followed by another kick to the mid-section that sent him sprawling face first into the wall.

Quickly, Turlak shook his head, as he realized that he was merely stunned by the surprise attack, and picked himself up, then turned, grinning even more when he saw who it was who had thrown the kicks.

Kragger, bound and gagged, let out a moan of frustration, wondering how he had gotten himself into this situation.

"Oh… I'm going to really enjoy killing ya," he threatened, clenching his armored fists, walking menacingly toward Kragger.

Ghanja momentarily stunned as well, realized that he had turned away from Turlak's shot at the last moment, which, in fact, only grazed him. He then jumped up from the floor, and barreled into Turlak's stomach, crashing the winged ruffian into the wall. Then, unmercifully continued his onslaught onto his former comrade, by pounding him with a multitude of blows.

* * *

P'thal stood in the entryway of the corridor, prepared to reprimand the human for pushing her out of the way, when suddenly, a deafening sound resounded from what seem to be from the other side of the stone wall. Before she knew it, the wall exploded outward, causing her to throw her arms up, closing her eyes to protect herself as she realized that there were shards of flying stone everywhere, enveloping the lone figure of John Stewart.

"Wings of Ratok!" she screamed.

When P'thal opened her eyes, she'd expected to see the human's body impaled by the debris, but instead, she saw John Stewart with his arm still extended, the power ring affixed upon his right hand, and no longer wearing the ceremonial alien garb from the T'jinn Jakat, but wearing the uniform of the Green Lantern Corps with all of the fragmented rock suspended in mid air within a bright green aura.

Lantern looked at her with his green eyes, smoldering with energy.

"I've found Shayera. You comin'!"

* * *

Nor rolled to his feet quickly, grabbing a baton that was attached to his belt, then extended his arm, where it quickly, and methodically protracted from both ends until its length had melded into the size of a staff, aglow with electrical energy.

Shayera rolled back to her feet, as well, and began to smile even more, both hands on her mace, as it also began to scream with energy, glowing brightly.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Sport!"

"It seems that way… dog. Do you really think that you're much of a match for me?" Nor jeered heatedly, feeling a need to take his frustration out on her.

"Only one way to find out!" she declared.

The pair took to the sky, as Nor swung the staff downward in a wide arc. Shayera countered by swinging her mace upward catching the staff at the pinnacle of its arc sending electrical sparks flying everywhere within the warehouse.

Nor parried by twisting in air swinging his staff from left to right, as Shayera easily evaded his next barrage of thrusts and swings, as he tried desperately to pierce her defenses with the mace that she used so effectively.

Then, Shayera zipped upward, away from his attack, flipped, then bucked to the right, and down, swinging the mace downward within the same motion. In defense to this move, Nor reached upward to ward off the attack, where the mace caught the center of his staff, knocking it out of his hands, sending it flailing to the ground below.

Shayera then swung the mace upward, catching the Thanagarian, full in the jaw, sending him flying headlong into the far rock wall, crashing to the ground.

"Arrrrggggghhhhh! You will die… Shi' akni scum!" Nor bellowed violently, standing up.

Depressing a button on his belt, Nor began to glow brightly, where the metal from upon the belt began to disperse evenly about his body, making him fully armored,now. Once completed, he bounded back into the sky, reached out into the direction of his staff, as it streaked upward from the rock floor below, and back into his waiting hands.

"Wow, I'm impressed. But, you know that's cheating. How cum I can't get my own exo-skeleton?" Shayera jested.

"You dare joke with me, wench!" Nor screamed, clearly frustrated now. "You die, now!"

He twirled the staff with his hands, quickly until the staff blurred with white energy, and then directed the concentrated blast at Shayera.

She darted downward within the confined space of the warehouse, realizing that the energy bolt was fixed on her and her alone. She had heard of such weapons that could produce concentrated energy that would allow the wielder to mentally direct it to any foe. Zipping in and out, between the rows of stacked munitions, and other equipment, she knew that the ball of energy would follow. Shayera then swepted upward, straight for the ceiling, then broke horizontally, along the jagged edges. The bolt followed her path, heading straight for her, where she abruptly stopped in mid air, turning, facing it.

"uuuuuHHHHHAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Shayera screamed, slamming the energy bolt with the electrified mace, diverting it downward, back to its originator.

"No!" Nor exclaimed ruefully, as the orb of energy screamed towards him, no longer able to find its intended target. He tried to lash to his right, but didn't move fast enough, when the blast caught him fully, driving him into the munitions storage racks below. He crashed into the rock floor violently as the impact from the distructive blow left a contoured shape of his body throughout the damaged industrial storage units.

* * *

Green Lantern and P'thal entered the warehouse from the corridor, looking about warily. Kragger, and Ghanja dragging the unconcious body of Turlak emerged from the conference room as the pair approached.

"Commander!" P'thal cried out.

"Where's Shayera?" Lantern yelled, disregarding pleasantries.

"I don't know… we just heard a crash from over there…" Kragger replied, pointing towards the back of the warehouse.

* * *

Shayera hovered above as she looked down at her defeated opponent, happy that it was finally over.

"Do you think that you have defeated me!" Nor laughed, looking over to his right as he lifted his right hand, depressing a button upon his wrist from his left. "You should know that a Raptorclaw never misses his target. You will not escape our wrath, Traitor!"

Nor's suit began to glow as it illuminated within the damaged storage units revealing that this particular one housed a couple of thanagarian warheads.

"Shayera!" a familiar voice called from across the warehouse floor. It was Lantern.

She turned to warn him of the impending danger as the glow of the explosion shined brightly from below.

**KHARRRRTTTTOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

Corporal Karos stared at the display on his miniature tracking unit that he was wearing on his wrist; monitoring the comm signal that it was currently receiving from P'thal's communicator, as his winged squad quietly flew, with searchlights extended, to a darkened sub-chamber in which he had no clue even existed. However, the intricate device could only give an approximate positioning point to where her comm link may have been established, and since she was no where to be seen, finding her, he thought, may prove to be a bit more difficult than expected.

"This is where the Lieutenant's signal originated, about sixty meters that way according to this, but this doesn't make any sense," he said, looking about, as he landed softly onto the stone floor. "This is telling me that she is beyond that huge rock wall… did anyone bring the bio-sensors?"

"Got it right here, Corp," a soldier with a backpack, responded.

"Good. Begin a sensor sweep… see if you can pick up any thermal readings. "

"Okay, I'm on it."

"Lieutenant P'thal… this is Karos, we're approaching the coordinates of your last known position…" he said, speaking into his communicator, watching the young soldier setup the scanning equipment. "…what's your s-statu-?"

Suddenly, without warning, plumes of fire, rock and smoke erupted through an alcove that was enshrouded within the darkness, causing the formation of rock to arduously shake the surrounding area within the chamber. The group of winged men quickly scrambled back into the air, avoiding the sudden horizontal geyser that was spewing debris of molten rock.

"G'rok's mercy!" someone yelled.

"Lieutenant P'thal! Are you there?!" Karos cried frantically into his communicator. "Lieutenant!"

The tracker clearly displayed that the link was still up, but the feedback he'd received was nothing but silence. Staring blankly at the collapsing rock within the alcove, he knew that if she was in there, then nothing could be done for her, that it would be foolish to jeopardize his or anyone else's life by venturing further into a sub-chamber that had suddenly become a death trap. Karos grimaced, as he gave the order to retreat back to the canyon.

"Did you see that?" one of the soldiers asked, while smoke began to billow upward toward the ceiling of the outer cave, as they hovered near the sub-chamber's entrance. "Was that an explosion?"

"Looked like one to me…" another acknowledged.

Karos nodded in agreement. _But… what caused it?_

"You think the Lieutenant was in there?"

"I don't know," Karos murmured sadly. "She never responded…"

Glancing back at his tracking unit, he noticed that the comm signal was still pulsing… almost as if it was unaffected; and it appeared that it was getting stronger, even though it was evident that its transmission came directly from within the radius of the explosion. But how was that possible? It wasn't. The device should have been destroyed, and its link severed, especially from a blast of that magnitude. But nonetheless, it was still there.

"Karos… look!"

Through the smoke and swirling dust, high above the disintegrated alcove, fissures of bright green light began to penetrate outward, flashing from within the tumultuous facing of the rock wall as the cracks zigged and zagged, increasing in size, when finally the wall itself began to crumble, causing huge slabs of stone to crash downward, adding more dust and rock to the pile of debris, making it difficult for them to see clearly. However, clear vision was not needed, as there was no mistaking the huge glowing sphere of emerald energy that emerged slowly from the smoldering rock, advancing itself toward the group of hovering winged men, who acted as if they were caught in a spider's web, unable to move.

Karos squinted his eyes, as he realized that the sphere was carrying occupants, John Stewart stood within, his right arm extended, his right hand glowing brightly, his other arm was around Shayera Hol, as she leaned into him, two soldiers he didn't know stood in back of them, and then finally, he could see a shaken Commander Kragger with P'thal standing next to him. They were miraculously unharmed, undoubtedly protected by the mysterious rays of the human's power ring.

The sphere, once it had cleared the sub-chamber, shot upward, out into the outer cave, climbing quickly past the deep canyon walls, until reaching the cave's upper level. Setting down upon the surface, the energy bubble dispersed silently as Green Lantern helped Shayera sit upon a nearby rock.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah… just a little dazed by the explosion. Thanks… for shielding me. By the way, what kept you?" she said smiling.

Before Lantern could answer, armed Thanagarian soldiers landed next to them, their weapons drawn.

"Don't move, Lieutenant Hol!" Karos yelled.

"Hold your fire!"

The Thanagarian soldiers looked dumbfounded, as they turned to the source of the one who had issued the order.

"Sir?"

"I said hold your fire," Kragger repeated, walking up to them, staring at Shayera. "Corporal Karos…"

"Yes… Commander?"

Kragger eyed Shayera steadily for a moment, as if measuring her for some unknown purpose. "Take two men, and escort the prisoner back to her cell."

"What? Now wait-a-minute!" Lantern interjected, stepping in front of Shayera protectively.

"John… its ok… " Shayera said calmly, standing up, returning Kragger's gaze. "I need to see this through…"

Stepping forward, she placed her hand onto Lantern's arm, letting him know that everything would be all right. She turned and looked deeply into his eyes, then without a word, she bent downward, and leapt into the air. The winged men followed suit, but kept their weapons trained on her, as they made their way into the darkness.

"Y-yeah…" John uttered with reluctance, staring after her. Then looked back at Kragger. "I'd like to go with them, if that's ok."

"Of course, it's the least that I can do." Kragger smiled slyly.

"Yeah… I'm sure it is…" Lantern said with disdain, flying off.

Kragger stared after the human, as he increased his speed so that he could catch up with the departing detail as they headed toward the encampment. He then turned, facing Ghanja and the still groggy Turlak, shaking his head with disappointment.

"Guards… I need you to take these two to solitary, and keep them under wraps… I have some questions for them," he said speaking to the remaining soldiers.

"Yes, sir."

P'thal watched as the remaining soldiers flew away with the two prisoners, not sure of what to make of the superior officer's intentions. She looked around, then realizing that she was the only one that had remained behind.

"You don't think that she should stand trial, do you?" he asked, out of the blue, a few moments later.

"It isn't up to me, sir," P'thal answered. "But… she is my friend."

"Yes, I know… however, your friend is guilty of betraying our people in their greatest time of need. And yet…" his voice trailed off, as he placed his hand on the hawk emblem that was strapped across his chest.

"Sir?"

"Come with me, Lieutenant… I have something to show you."

* * *

Upon reaching his private chambers, Kragger offered P'thal a seat at his viewing station, and then went to clean himself up, as the machine came to life. Instructing her to depress the play button as soon as the boot up was completed, the video began to flicker upon the view screen, displaying what she had least expected. 

When he'd returned, Kragger had put on a fresh uniform, and sat down next to her in a pulled up chair.

"Well?"

"Sir… I don't know what to say. I'm at a loss of words you might say…"

"I'm not surprised. Listen, Lieutenant… I know that you don't approve of my methods, but this incident is going to put me into a very bad position. You do understand that, don't you?"

"Yes, sir… but—"

"I already know what you're going to say… that the Council needs to see this… right?"

"Yes, sir… she saved your life… and so did that soldier named Ghanja…"

Kragger stood up, and walked over to the entrance of his chamber, staring at an artifact that hung upon the smooth wall.

"I still feel that she should be punished for what she did… but now I'm beginning to realize that this shouldn't be the focus here…"

"Huh?"

"Lieutenant… Nor was a 'Praetorian Raptorclaw'."

"Yes, sir…"

"You realize that 'Raptorclaws' only care for one thing and that one thing is power. There's a good chance that someone on the Council may also be a 'Praetorian'."

"I don't understand…" P'thal responded with confusion.

"It's pretty clear, Pilar. The whole plan for the Hyperspace Bypass came from the Council… I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the one who suggested the plan, had his own agenda all along… maybe even had a part that started the war with the Gordanians in the first place."

"So what are you going to do?"

Kragger smiled to himself with the irony of the whole situation.

"We have no choice… but to play it smart…"

* * *

Shayera Hol sat motionless upon her bunk as Green Lantern paced back and forth outside of her cell, unable to relax. Nervous energy he'd called it, when she had asked him to stay calm. 

"How can you be so calm at a time like this?" Lantern asked. "Do you really think that the Council is gonna listen to me?"

"I don't know… what I do know… is that you love me," she smiled. "And you know what?"

"What?"

"I think I would have always questioned that, because of what happened with the invasion and all… but…"

"But?"

"It doesn't really matter whether the Council listens or not... because in my heart, I know that you showed me exactly what I mean to you. What you did for me… I'll never forget that, John…"

"Listen…" Lantern started.

"Ahem…" P'thal said as she entered the cellblock, and walked over to the containment controls, shutting down the force field. "Sorry, about disturbing you… but I think you'd want to know this."

"Pilar, what is it?" Shayera asked.

"The Tribunal has been cancelled."

"Cancelled? Why?"

"Because of the new evidence."

"What new evidence?"

"Apparently, the Council has found that there was some merit in your actions, and that you did what was necessary to prevent a terrible atrocity."

"Huh?" John said, confused now.

"Shayera, they saw the video, and heard what you said to Nor… why you did what you did."

Shayera smiled. "Well, I'll be… Kragger had his vidcam on… didn't he?"

"Yes…"

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Lantern pleaded.

"It means that Shayera can go free…" P'thal answered.

"What! That's great!"

"However… there's a price…"

"A price?" Shayera asked.

"You'll be branded a traitor, and will be forever banished from Thanagar."

"Why?" John asked.

"This can't go public, John," Shayera answered.

"What can't go public?"

"If it becomes known that Nor was a 'Raptorclaw'... let's just say that it's a political powder keg. The Elders doesn't want that to ever get out, because they've got enough on their plate to deal with right now. Anyway, the official report says that there was a cave-in, that killed Nor when he attempted to save Commander Kragger from your devilish plot, and that you were gravely injured, with no chance of survival," P'thal explained.

"I'm sure that Kragger is thrilled about this…" Shayera smirked.

"Actually, he doesn't like the idea of you saving his life…"

"I see… what about you? What will you do now?"

"The Talon will do whatever the Council orders, and right now, we must do what we can to survive. So… all that is left is to see that you are released," P'thal smiled.

Shayera hugged her tightly.

"You take care of yourself, Pilar. You're a good friend. I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too. Take care of her, John Stewart."

"You know I will Pilar… and thank you." He said, shaking her hand briskly.

Pilar P'thal led the pair to the hanger area, careful that no one had seen them, and took a final look at her friend.

"Shayera, you and John must get out of here, unseen…"

"I think we've got that covered."

"Good, take care… you two."

The energy bubble formed quickly around John Stewart and Shayera Hol, and then it began to phase around them, until they disappeared from sight, as it inverted the light upon itself.

Lantern steered the bubble up into the open sky and looked back at the mountain.

"Are you going to be okay?"

Shayera shook her head, and put her head upon his shoulder. "Yeah… I'm gonna be fine. I just hope that it will be the same for Thanagar, too."

"So… where do you want to go?"

Shayera thought for a moment, maybe they should head back to Wayne Manor, and let the others know that she was back. There would be plenty of time for that later she decided. She then looked up into John Stewart's eyes.

"Let's go home."

* * *

He sat quietly in the darkened room, studying the display screen of the file he'd been reviewing for the past two hours. Placing a forefinger and thumb onto his bearded chin, he began rubbing it absently as a slight buzz occurred from the earpiece he'd worn in his left ear. 

"Lantern here…" he answered. "Okay… I'm on my way."

Hitting the eject button on the compact disc reader mounted on the high speed computer, he watched the disc pop outward, where he grabbed it and placed it back into its jacket, labeled: 'Justice Lords Sensitive Material Division – ID No.: 52489-873'.

Exiting from his quarters aboard the new Watchtower, Green Lantern saw his objective, and waved.

"Lantern."

"Batman."

"Well?"

"Interesting," Lantern said, handing him the disc.

"Interesting… huh? It's not everyday that you can see what could have been."

"Yeah… that's true."

"Do you regret your decision…?"

"Sometimes…"

"What are you going to do?"

"What can I do? I wouldn't even know where to begin."

"You could do what your counterpart did… it looked to be a good solution."

"No good. It's been months since she left… the trail is too cold. I will just have to… what was it you once told me? 'Deal with it'."

"I see… so, where're you off to now?"

"J'onn asked me to check on Green Arrow… I'm on my way to the teleporter now."

"Oh… that's right, he never did give us an answer. Well… see you when you get back."

"Yeah…"

**Fin**


End file.
